Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I know Deputy Ó Snodaigh has been interested in this for a long time and I appreciate that. The local council argument is interesting, and we have looked at it. Deputy Ó Snodaigh will be aware of the fact that they use by-laws in Galway to do that and I gather it worked. We have looked at that and we are going to talk again to those responsible. Dublin City Council, of which Deputy Ó Snodaigh was a member for a long time, had maintained rigidly in writing that this is a national issue and the council does not want to handle it.

We cannot funk it if the authority refuses to handle it, but we will speak to those people again before we make a decision to see if there is any possibility of them using the same type of by-laws. The council is saying it is a national issue and it will not do it. We cannot immediately expect a local authority to use by-laws to regulate rickshaws and we have legal advice that its by-laws would not extend to this level of detailed licensing. Certainly, it would not have powers to seize a vehicle for enforcement. There are obstacles to that. It worked in Galway but Dublin appears to be very reluctant and the authority has indicated it will not do it.

Enforcement has been mentioned and it is a problem. There is no point is saying it is not. The road traffic corps is being increased and it will improve fairly rapidly this year, but it is behind. Enforcement has been a problem for some time and it has been a problem for the corps in enforcing drink-driving laws as well. It is being remedied but it has been a problem. The Chairman is right in that one of the problems with any legislation of this sort, whether the vehicle is to be regulated or banned, is defining the vehicle. These are not defined in law at all currently and there is a switching between them being bicycles and motorised vehicles, which is very unsatisfactory.