Noel Rock (Dublin North West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank our guests for coming in today. This is an important issue of discussion. It is future-focused and relates to something we see happening right now on our roads, particularly in our cities. This exists and is real. There are many hundreds of e-vehicles, if not thousands, on our roads and it is therefore good that we have a proactive, rather than reactive, approach because it is clear these devices are in use and, therefore, giving them a safe framework within which they should work is a useful exercise.

It is obviously something I am interested in seeing happen and that is why I proposed to the committee that we have this discussion today. As Ms Murdock said, we can iterate on the experiences of other countries. Having a head-in-the-sand approach is not beneficial to anybody and we need to put legislation in place.

As I said, these vehicles exist and have environmental benefits. They have benefits for public transport and can enhance catchment areas. We have metros and BusConnects planned and catchment areas can be widened by allowing a service user to complete the first mile to get to the public transport, or the last mile to get from the public transport to their place of work or wherever they wish to go, on an e-scooter or e-bicycle.

My first question is fun and is directed at everybody. Have any of our guests ever used an electric scooter? Mr. McGinty has. How did he find it?