Louise Burne: Time the Government stopped 'pleading with industry and retail' on e-scooters

The Government's proposed e-scooter crackdown will achieve little unless existing laws are consistently enforced by retailers, parents and gardaí.

An e-scooter in Dublin city centre on Monday. The Government has announced that e-scooters will be classified as mechanically propelled vehicles requiring registration and licensing. Picture: Stephen Collins/Collins Photos

Mere minutes after Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly entered Government Buildings, a man on an e-scooter came flying up Merrion Street and scooted straight through a red light.

Despite the area being a hot spot for gardaí due to the presence of Government Buildings, Leinster House, and a multitude of Government departments, no great chase ensued.

“How would we catch him?” one guard later asked. Here lies the issue: If the existing rules are not being enforced, what makes the Government think stricter rules will work?

Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Tánaiste Simon Harris, justice minister Jim O’Callaghan, and junior transport minister Sean Canney met with Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly on Monday morning.

The meeting discussed the scourge of e-scooters, which, according to Children’s Health Ireland (CHI), has resulted in a vast increase in the number of injured children in hospital.

Some 18 children were admitted to CHI Temple Street with traumatic brain injuries sustained in e-scooter crashes between June 2025 and May 2026, an increase of 50%. Some seven more have been admitted since May.

It seems to have been forgotten that it is currently illegal for under-16s to ride e-scooters. Are their parents being reminded of this while they are in the hospital?

As Government backbenchers welcomed Amazon’s decision to pull some e-scooters from sale, they also called for toy stores to kindly consider doing the same. Just if they fancied it. No pressure, obviously.

Have they forgotten their party leaders are in charge and could have demanded that e-scooters marketed at children were taken off the shelves? They could have lashed them with fines if they kept selling vehicles for children who were not legally old enough to drive them.

As the meeting was ongoing in Government Buildings, Smyths’ toy store had five e-scooters for children for sale on its website, ranging from €120 to €179.

One had a max speed of 16km/h, and a maximum rider weight of 50kg, which CHI says is the average weight of a 14-year-old.

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Mr Canney told the Irish Examiner that he was “pleading with industry and retail” to consider if they are being sold to parents who are giving them to under-16s.

When this reporter asked Mr Canny why he was “pleading” when he was in Government and could knock doors down, he contended that the current regulations are “very, very hard to enforce”.

To make them easier, the Government announced that e-scooters will be classified as mechanically propelled vehicles requiring registration and licensing. The legal age for use will be 18, rather than 16. High-vis and helmets will be required.

Gardaí will be granted greater legal protection when pursuing e-scooters and e-bikes.

For any of these changes to work, there must be implementation. Parents, shops, gardaí, and those who drive e-scooters dangerously must play their part. If the current track record is anything to go by, this is often easier said than done.

Before returning to Government Buildings, Sean Canney was asked if we would expect a garda to apprehend someone who goes through a red light on an e-scooter.

“It depends on the circumstances,” he replied. There’s the problem in a nutshell.  The era of “pleading” must come to an end.

• Louise Burne, political correspondent