Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said there must be a review of all regulations around e-scooters and scramblers because of their use by criminal organisations getting children to distribute drugs.
Mr Martin made his remarks following concerns raised in the Dáil about people using scooters and bikes in “muling” for the drugs trade and becoming involved in road incidents, often without being pursued or prosecuted.
The Taoiseach said it is a “very serious issue which demands a review of the entire regulatory framework governing scramblers and e-scooters”.
Fianna Fáil Dublin Bay North TD Tom Brabazon had said e-bikes, e-scramblers, e-scooters and ordinary scramblers “are the scourge of people’s lives across the city”.
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“A lot of them are unfortunately being used in criminal enterprises and in particular for muling and carrying illicit produce for the drug trade,” he said.
“These bikes, scramblers and scooters, when used as part of a criminal enterprise, are usually operated by minors.”
Despite being underage these “minors” were “acting in an adult way but are not facing the rigours of the criminal system”, he said. “On top of that, notwithstanding anything the Garda Commissioner might say, these drug mules are not being pursued and prosecuted when they are on those vehicles.”
Mr Brabazon said the e-scooter and scrambler users often do not wear helmets and are instead “ballied up”, or wearing balaclavas.
They are “not carrying or using lights in the dark evenings, having removed the speed governors from their vehicles”.
His party colleague Shane Moynihan also urged stronger action on enforcement. The Dublin Mid-West TD said that in the past two weeks in his constituency a 10-year-old boy was severely injured when an e-scooter in a cycle lane ran a red light and three weeks ago there was a fatality in the Citywest-Saggart area involving a scrambler bike.
E-scooters in particular “are a welcome addition to the active travel agenda” but he stressed that “users of these e-scooters need to obey the rules of the road and have respect for other road users”.
Mr Moynihan said “we need to see a more consistent approach to enforcement in terms of seizing illegal scramblers but also encouraging their sensible use”.
The Taoiseach said it was a very serious issue that some of these new vehicles are being used “as part of criminal enterprises, particularly the utilisation of young minors in the distribution of drugs”.
He said the entire regulatory framework for e-scooters and scramblers needed to be reviewed.
“There are positives too, particularly for the elderly population in terms of people getting access to go up hills and so on,” he said. “However, it merits a review because many negative aspects have happened as a result of their deployment.”
