Under-18 e-scooter ban could be in place by end of month

Minister for Transport Darragh O'Brien has said a ban on the use of e-scooters by under 18s could now be introduced by the end of this month or early next month, after he received permission from Europe to proceed with the plans. The State had been advised that it needed to wait three months before the ban could be introduced, due to European rules, but Minister O'Brien received confirmation this afternoon that the European Commission had waived this waiting period, after accepting the case to have an urgent adoption of the measures. Minister O'Brien has welcomed the decision, saying he will now move to draft the necessary regulations, with a view to increasing the minimum age for escooter use from 16 to 18 by late September or early October. Regulations to make helmets and high-visiblity clothing mandatory for e-scooter use come into effect from tomorrow. Those in breach of the regulations face a fixed charge notice of €100. From 2 October fees for detention and storage of seized e-scooters will be doubled, rising to €80 for detention and the first day of storage and €30 for each additional day or storage. In the coming weeks fixed Charge Notices will be increased to €100 for e-scooter offences. The department said proposals regarding registration, insurance and driving licence requirements for e-scooters remain under consideration. The Government has not ruled out a full ban on e-scooter use but said a Department of Health report on the public health implications of e-scooters, which is due to be published shortly, will be an important factor in Government decisions on next steps. The Government moved to change the regulations around e-scooters in the summer, after medics at Children's Health Ireland Temple Street called for an outright ban on the devices in early July after six children were put on life support in a fortnight in the hospital due to injuries they sustained from e-scooters. They described the issue as an epidemic and said that almost half of the hospitals ICU capacity was being used by children who had traumatic brain injuries from e-scooter accidents. Enforcement of new e-scooter laws will be 'weak' - GRA Earlier, the President of the Garda Representative Association (GRA) said enforcement of new e-scooter laws, due to come into effect tomorrow, will be "weak". Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Detective Garda Niall Hodgins said the new laws will be easy to enforce with those people who are compliant. However, they probably will not be "any use whatsoever" against those determined to ignore the laws. "Enforcement on these laws is likely to be weak, for a multiplicity of reasons," he said. "Without registration of these vehicles, we really can't do anything with the user who speeds away or leaves a scene," he said. "There's a clear intention here to police this issue, like they do motor vehicles. But without registration, we're really at nothing with regards to the user who speeds away, who rides on a footpath, who's non-compliant or is involved in an incident and leaves the scene, so this... creates a major enforcement gap," he said. Asked what happens if gardaí try to stop someone not wearing a helmet or hi-vis and they do not stop, Det Gda Hodgins said gardaí are not trained to intervene when there is non-compliance. "We have sought protections for gardaí," he said, and did not dispute that if people on e-scooters refused to stop that they would not be pursued. Garda Hodgins said there was "a serious cost" in targeting the breaches. "The garda requires a physical intervention, he is the witness of the offence, he has to stop the rider, he has to establish the ID, and then he has to inspect the scooter, so there's a high cost involved here," Det Gda Hodgins added.