I will use my time to discuss the scourge of scramblers on our streets and in our communities. I offer my deepest and most sincere condolences to the family of Grace Lynch in Finglas. Her death has devastated a family, shaken a community and forced a national reckoning with the criminally dangerous use of scramblers and other vehicles. Grace had her whole life ahead of her and there are no words that can lessen the pain her loved ones and the wider community are suffering. I welcome the legislation that is being brought forward to ban these vehicles from our streets but we have to be honest and admit this could have been done a long time ago. It should not have taken the death of young Grace to spur action. In my community, we are all too familiar with the reckless use of scramblers. We see youths with no helmets who are ballied up speeding up and down roads and footpaths, doing wheelies against the flow of traffic, beckoning and jeering at gardaí and having no regard for their safety or that of others. This is sheer thuggery and part of a systematic wider criminality where vehicles are used to intimidate and terrorise local communities and as mules for the transport and dealing of illegal drugs at ease. There is now a section of society that has become untouchable because it is not being pursued and facing the full rigours of the law. Middle management in An Garda Síochána is hesitant to order chases of suspects because it cannot afford to have personnel tied up or suspended because of a Fiosrú investigation. However, as a country we cannot surrender to lawlessness. We have to empower our gardaí to ensure they can pursue those using scramblers in public areas. To do this, we must consider a statutory indemnity for members of An Garda Síochána who act reasonably and within strict protocols, like that of the London Metropolitan Police, to ensure they are not unfairly penalised for doing their jobs. We need a system of electronic tagging for e-scooters, e-bikes and scramblers so they can be traced from retailers to consumers. Ultimately, there must be a fear of consequences. The law must be applied with full rigour to ensure recklessness, thuggery and criminality are met with appropriate punishment. We cannot compromise on this. We owe it to the Lynch family and every family in Ireland to ensure our public spaces are no longer playgrounds for criminals or those with scramblers. I will also touch on the use of sulkies. We have seen recent incidents around Dublin and in Limerick-----

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-----where they have been used recklessly and put lives in danger.

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