It would be utter hypocrisy to begin a debate on road safety without mentioning that it does not just apply to 16 and 18-year-olds and that it also applies to TDs and that we have a TD in this House who was driving at 190 km/h. They could have killed anybody on that road that day only the gardaí arrived. It was the second time this person had an offence. They paid compensation to a family in 1990 when they were councillor. To be frank, it is utterly disgraceful that someone like that has not been mentioned by the Minister for justice. There was no political penalty except coming off a committee. They are still on other committees and they spoke here yesterday. It is not setting a very good example because, as I said, it is not just young people. I want to send my sympathy to the family of Grace Lynch. It is heartbreaking and her mother's call-to-action was inspirational. Scramblers should not be permitted on public roads or in public spaces. Forget about having tax and insurance, which is in the current law. They should not be on public roads. They are not suitable. They are far too dangerous. A person should need a licence to buy one or to sell one and should be part of a motor club which is where scrambling is actually meant to take place. In this context, I want to mention that when I was on the council, it took the initiative and set up a scrambler bike club in Mulhuddart where I live. It is now closed because the club is expected to pay the insurance, and it cannot get insurance. We have this scenario where clubs are using public facilities set up by councils. The clubs are then expected to find the insurance, so the public facilities are no longer in use. This has to stop. We should give young people that outlet so that they do not have the excuse to be on public roads and all local authorities should be involved in providing such facilities.

Sentiment score: -0.07