Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly calls for e-scooter ban and legal protection for pursuing gardaí

Grace Lynch’s parents Siobhan and Martin Lynch outside Government Buildings this afternoon. They say more needs to be done to combat scramblers, adding that despite everything young people are still dangerously driving in their area. Picture: Stephen Collins/Collins

Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly has called for a ban on e-scooters and for the introduction of legal protections for gardaí pursuing scramblers and e-scooters.

The intervention comes as Taoiseach Micheál Martin told the Dáil he was “leaning towards” an outright ban on e-scooters.

The commissioner told a packed hearing of the Oireachtas Justice Committee that specialist “pursuit training” for gardaí would not start until the beginning of next year, but stressed that pursuits of scramblers and e-scooters were “very risky” — for gardaí, the driver, and general public.

Martin and Siobhán Lynch, whose 16-year-old daughter Grace was killed when struck by a scrambler in Finglas, north Dublin, last January, told the committee that gardaí were not responding to people when they phone garda stations about scramblers and e-scooters.

Ms Lynch said the reason why her daughter was dead was because the scrambler was “not pursued” and had been driving around the area for “three hours unopposed” by gardaí and “allowed to run amok” until Grace was hit by it on a pedestrian crossing.

Her husband said that in the UK the police used a combination of e-scramblers, stingers, air support and plain clothes officers to physically stop people on scramblers and e-scooters and added: “We are doing nothing, it’s not good enough”.

Mr Lynch said the “madness had to stop” and said consultants in Temple Street Children’s Hospital had told him that half of the intensive care unit beds were “taken up by electric scooter injuries”, with 400 presentations a year.

Mr Lynch said these bikes were “too easy to get” and said the authorities need to “sort that out”.

Deputies and senators, from across parties and beyond Dublin, including Cork and Louth, highlighted the “scourge” of scramblers and souped-up e-scooters in their areas.

Social Democrats TD for Dublin Central, Daniel Ennis, told of “chaotic” scenes in Dublin city centre — including O’Connell Street — last Saturday when a “pack of eight scramblers and high-powered bikes” took over the area, “unchallenged” by gardaí.

He said he rang 999 and physically went into Store St Garda Station about it, only to be told that gardaí “did not have the resources” to deal with it.

“Do we just give over our streets?” he asked the commissioner.

The commissioner said there “should have been a better response” and said he had “no intention of ceding” the city to gangs on scramblers.

Siobhan and Martin Lynch. Mr Lynch said the “madness had to stop” and said consultants in Temple Street Children’s Hospital had told him that half of the intensive care unit beds were “taken up by electric scooter injuries”, with 400 presentations a year. Picture: Stephen Collins/Collins

Sinn Féin TD for Cork North Central, Tommy Gould, said “every night” he is ringing gardaí about scramblers. He said that two weeks ago, an 89-year-old woman was “knocked to the ground” by a scrambler and now had to “look out the window to see if it is safe to go for a walk”.

He said Fairfield Park, on the northside of the city, was a beautiful park, but said people were “terrified of using it as it is a race track”.

Sinn Féin TD for Dublin West, Paul Donnelly, called on gardaí to “challenge” the people on scramblers and e-bikes, saying six children in two weeks have had their lives “utterly changed” from injuries caused by them.

The commissioner said that because of the EU presidency, the earliest the dedicated pursuit training for gardaí could start would be the end of the year.

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He told Labour TD for Tipperary, Alan Kelly, that the training would take “at least a year” but that they would start with members working in areas most affected.

He said ten gardaí were currently before the courts charged with careless driving or dangerous driving in pursuit situations and said these prosecutions had a “chilling effect” on the organisation.

He said that if gardaí are in pursuit and there is a collision, it is reported to Fiosrú, the police ombudsman. If the DPP agrees, the gardaí can be prosecuted, which “could take years”, and that the case could have an impact on the garda’s personal private licence, insurance, and resulting discipline.

The commissioner said his legal department would be sending a proposal – based on the situation in other jurisdictions - to Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan in the coming weeks.

He said they were not looking for “absolute indemnity” for gardaí, but said it was “very important” they had protection, which would be measured against the standards they are trained to.