First, I want to express my condolences to the family of the person who has died and those who were injured in what sounds like an awful crash in the north inner city. I hope there are no more deaths as a result. We are obviously here because of the tragic and awful death of 16-year-old Grace Lynch. I want to express my condolences to her family and friends. I also want to pay tribute to her mother, in particular, for the way that she spoke out so bravely and strongly and as a consequence we are now going to have Grace's law. Of course, it did not have to be Grace's law as this is legislation that was passed in 2023. A regulation could have been signed at any point since then but was not. It should not have taken this tragedy to force action by the Government because this is not a new issue. It is an issue that particularly affects working class communities. It has certainly been an issue for the entire time that I have been a TD in Dublin South-West. It has been a scourge in working-class communities. People try to go for walks in parks or wherever and they face the threat of being run down by someone on a scrambler. I got an email just last week from a woman saying that on several occasions she was forced of the path while pushing her four-month-old baby in her pram as riders deliberately sped towards them and performed wheelies directly in front of them. Her eight-year-old daughter now refuses to go for local walks out of fear of these bikes. That is not new and not the first contact like this I have received. I have received many over many years. The safety of working-class communities should not be ignored until tragedy strikes. That means far wider reaching preventative measures to protect our communities. It means banning the sale of scrambler bikes except to those who are in licensed clubs. It means investing in safety initiatives that target groups using scramblers. It means investing in diversion programmes, community outreach, sports and roads safety, which will go a lot further than having gardaí chase after teenagers on bikes.

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