I thank my colleagues for giving me a little extra time on this issue. Last Friday, Father Séamus Aherne reminded the people of Finglas that 25 January was Burns night, celebrating the famous poet Robbie Burns, who spoke about old acquaintance not being forgot. I suppose for our community, as Father Aherne said, 25 January will be remembered as the day when our community was shaken by the tragic death of Grace Lynch, a 16-year-old girl with her whole life ahead of her who was killed crossing a pedestrian crossing. There will be many victims of road traffic accidents but I just want to remember Grace's life for a moment. Grace's parents Siobhán and Martin have spoken about their daughter as a beautiful young girl. She was laid-back, she had a messy bedroom like many teenagers and she had an eye for borrowing a nice top that her mam might never get back. She spent her time with her friends and her boyfriend Harry. She would often take two buses rather than take a short walk. She lost her life due to a vehicle that should never have been in a public place. That is the reality of road safety. This is an issue on which many people have campaigned for a long time. We have campaigned on it because we see it at first hand in our communities. Last week, we were getting calls to our office from people who were angry, people who wished they had shouted louder and people who wanted to know what they could do, what powers An Garda Síochána had and what more the Government and An Garda Síochána could do. That is totally understandable so a lot of us welcomed the new regulations and laws this week, which will be known as Grace's law. There will be a ban on the use of scramblers in any public place. They will further strengthen the powers around safety, seizure and destruction. Of course, the 2023 Act put many measures in place that give An Garda Síochána powers like the ability to hold the bike for up to eight weeks and not to return it unless it is returned at the permission of the court, the ability to seize the bike from the court, the ability to fine an adult who supplies the bike to a child and the ability to prosecute an offence on the belief that dangerous driving has been taking place. Many laws were already being broken with regard to scramblers. Yes we have now added a fourth, fifth or sixth law but the question is how those six laws will be enforced. There is no point in us passing laws if they are not enforced. I understand An Garda Síochána has a very difficult job and that pursuit is a very high-risk pursuit for gardaí where the Garda is exposed, the person is exposed and the public is exposed - it is not easy - but there is now a range of powers. I believe that in operational terms, An Garda Síochána can put together measures that will tackle the very small number of people in our communities who hold these scramblers. As Father Aherne said, these young bucks will kill and be killed. Last week I spoke perhaps in anger but we will give the Garda Commissioner time now to operationalise these powers. However, it must be very quick. We need to make sure that An Garda Síochána has the resources, and the Minister is expected to provide them, and that gardaí at every level know their role, know what they can do, feel empowered and do not feel restricted. It is incredibly important that every Garda knows what he or she can do in terms of tackling scrambler bikes and that senior gardaí, including the Commissioner, put in place operations that use section 109A and sections 1 to 4, inclusive. They are all there to be used. We now want them to be enforced because another incident of this nature is just unthinkable. I welcome the measures announced this week. Having studied it for some time, it is more complicated than simply introducing a ban. There are other elements to it but it is incredibly welcome. As Siobhán said, she wants her daughter to be remembered. These laws will be known as Grace's law to remember her but the important thing now is that we put in place the measures to enforce them. Grace's mam was really clear; this was not an accident. She does not want to call it an accident. We need to ensure this can never happen again. I also acknowledge the loss of life in the city centre today and the families that were there.

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