‘No parent in Ireland’ should think an e-scooter is a toy, says Tánaiste
The Tánaiste said that pressure should be put on parents to stop buying e-scooters for children.
No parent in Ireland should think an e-scooter is a toy and they should stop buying them for children, Simon Harris has said.
The Tánaiste said that while the Government would look at proposals restricting e-scooters over injuries they can cause, behavioural change was needed.
He said penalties would be part of the proposals and they could be applied to parents.
Mr Harris also said that instead of changing garda powers to help them pursue illegal e-scooter use more effectively, the Government would switch the obligation to retailers that sell e-scooters in legislation to be brought forward in September.
“So the first thing that has to happen in this country, I need to be blunt about this, is behavioural change,” he said on RTÉ Radio’s Today with David McCullagh programme.
“There should be no parent in Ireland thinking that an e-scooter is a toy.
“And parents listening to this need to know that the number one reason children end up in ICU in Irish hospitals is because of accidents on e-scooters.”
He added: “There’s two things that can happen today, right now, without any law being signed.
“Parents can stop buying them for their children, and shops can stop selling them to children.”
“We should all be applying that pressure today.”
The Government is to extend a ban on the use of e-scooters from under-16s to under-18s, and make hi-vis jackets and helmets mandatory for anyone using them.
The proposals are to go to Cabinet next week and the rules would take effect in August.
Mr Harris, who is the Finance Minister, said the current system was being “completely ripped up and rebuilt” and the new regulations would make the roads safer for people.
Between one and two children are presenting in emergency departments this summer with injuries from e-scooters, a third of traumatic head injuries in children is due to e-scooter injuries, and the biggest cause of children ending up in ICU is e-scooter injuries, he said.
The Tánaiste said there would be an obligation on the retailer as per the proposals going to Cabinet next week.
He said it was his firm view that insurance, registration and tax should be required, and suggested that there will be penalties for e-scooter use that can be applied to parents.
Existing e-scooters would also need to be registered, he said.
Asked about who they would be registered with, he replied: “Probably either through a system that will be set up with the retailers or the Revenue Commissioners.
“So we could decide to go for a tax and insurance model, we could decide to go for ‘pay a fee on point of registration’.
“But the point I’m making is, you will not be able to just walk into a shop, buy an e-scooter, and head off on your merry way.”
He added: “We have laws at the moment that quite simply are unenforceable because of the lack of a registration system, and that’s changing as a result of our decisions.”
He said the possibility of a full ban had not been ruled out and said he had a “very open mind” on the issue.
“I think it’s better and safer to have a regulatory system, one that is enforceable, one that keeps our kids off them.
“We don’t ban everything that’s dangerous. What we do is regulate them and put strict rules around them, and at the moment, this is a system that is largely unregulated.”