Gardaí will struggle to enforce new e-scooter regulations set to come into effect mandating the use of helmets and high-visibility clothing, the Garda Representative Association (GRA) has warned.
The new rules are to come into effect on Friday, September 4th, and will make it mandatory for e-scooter riders to wear a helmet and high-visibility clothing, with those stopped while not in compliance with these regulations to be fined €100.
GRA president Niall Hodgins told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland that “enforcement in respect of these new regulations is likely to be weak”.
Hodgins said gardaí would be tasked with enforcing the new rules “but the core problem here is that the laws are easily enforceable, but against those who are compliant and will stop after a direction from gardaí”.
READ MORE
The rules are “not necessarily any use whatsoever against those who are most determined to ignore those laws”, he said.
Hodgins said there was a “clear intention” in Government to police e-scooters in a similar way to cars, but the lack of a registration system confounded this.
“Without registration, we are really at nothing with regards to the user who speeds away, rides on the footpath, who is non-compliant or is involved in an incident and leaves the scene,” he said. This would create a “major enforcement gap”.
He said there was a “multiplicity of reasons” behind the difficulty in enforcing the rules, but pointed primarily to beat gardaí not being trained to pursue those unwilling to stop following a legal order.
Asked what would happen if a rider did not stop, he said gardaí had “no capability” to follow e-scooter users who are not compliant with the rules.
“Guards are not trained to intervene when there is noncompliance,” he said, referring to concerns already raised by the GRA in relation to the lack of legal protections for gardaí in chasing wrong-way drivers.
“Not one garda is pursuit-trained,” he said.
Garda management has previously stated it has been working to deliver pursuit training since 2025 and has called for increased legal protection for Garda drivers.
A number of Garda trainers have begun specialist pursuit training with a British police force and are set to begin training beat gardaí in high-speed and dangerous pursuits by the end of the year, The Irish Times revealed last month.
The Government indicated in the aftermath of a major wrong-way crash on the M9 that efforts were under way to prepare legislation to strengthen protections for gardaí involved in pursuits by the Department of Transport.
Garda HQ has been contacted for comment.
