As you have used 20 seconds of my time, a Cheann Comhairle, you might be nice to me at the back end of it. I echo your welcome. The Order of Malta would absolutely take priority if I was in the Chair too. I echo the comments made by all previous speakers and by the Taoiseach and the Minister in recent days. I offer my sympathy to the family of Grace Lynch on their unbearable loss. Unfortunately, sometimes it seems to the public that events like this coax Government and politicians into action. When I first came in here in 2016, we had the scourge of scramblers in my constituency of Dublin South-West not only on streets but particularly in public parks. They destroyed public parks and public pitches and caused accidents to young children, near accidents and near misses. There had been a death on the northside of Dublin as well, which motivated me as spokesperson on Dublin at the time to move to introduce legislation. We were not in government but when we came into government, Deputy Paul McAuliffe and I doubled down on that. It is worth reiterating what that legislation involved. It was passed in 2023 by the Government at the time. It made dangerous driving an offence not only in public spaces but everywhere, including in public parks. It also gave An Garda Síochána new powers to seize scramblers being driven dangerously in any location. One month after the Bill was enacted, off-road scramblers were no longer just illegal for use in public places. It was illegal to drive them dangerously anywhere, even on private land. More importantly, gardaí had full powers under that legislation to seize a scrambler being driven dangerously in any location where they had reasonable belief that the vehicle might be driven dangerously. It also gave the Garda the powers to enter the curtilage of a dwelling to receive a scrambler after the fact. Why was it given those powers? It was that senior gardaí had issued an instruction to rank-and-file members not to engage in pursuit of scramblers being driven in a dangerous fashion, as that would cause danger to the public, the garda and the person driving the scrambler. It was just dangerous all around. All of these powers we have spoken about were actually granted to the Garda. We have to ask ourselves why the regulations to ban scramblers in public spaces were not being made. That comes down to an elongated consultation process that was going on between officials at Garda level and in the Department of Transport. I am not going to say politicians did their bit on this but we certainly did our utmost in passing that law to give the powers to those who requested them to ensure that the scourge and antisocial menace of scramblers could be stopped once and for all. I welcome the complete ban. I am disappointed about certain initiatives. I tried to bring one to south Dublin. I refer to the Moyross initiative where gardaí have engaged with scrambler users, the Road Safety Authority, community workers and social partnership. Essentially, it is a pretty sophisticated Garda youth diversion scheme where scrambler riders are taught to respect the rules of the road, how to maintain a scrambler bike, the correct reflective clothing to wear, how to ride and drive safely and how to respect other users on the road. There has been a lot of success to that. I tried to replicate it in my own local authority and brought the Moyross people to meet and engage with South Dublin County Council. It never went farther than that and I am hugely disappointed that it did not happen. I welcome the ban because the destruction caused by scramblers to parks in my community, and the menace caused to people, particularly children and older people, continues. I want to say to the Minister of State that we still have to find a way to catch them. A scrambler that appears on the street when these laws and regulations come in still has to be pursued and the rider still has to be caught safely. This has been raised by previous speakers. I support the use of drone technology in this and the expertise that other police forces have garnered.

Sentiment score: -0.05

The Ceann Comhairle took some moments of my time welcoming people. I can say that because she is gone. That power to destroy scramblers existed under previous laws because of a lack of insurance or a lack of tax. If we do succeed, and I hope we do, they will be replaced by something else. We have to prepare for that. This is not the end of the story. We need to remain really vigilant. I welcome the work the Minister of State and the Ministers for justice and Transport have done.

Sentiment score: 0.17