Mr. Ray O'Leary:

Picking up on the Chairman's point, I draw a distinction. The quantum that is there, and even the time periods that they came along, has meant that what one might call academic research is not available. I have seen press coverage of critical comments from medical professionals in Paris about the availability of e-scooters and their impact on the French equivalent of emergency departments in terms of injuries.

I was here last week to discuss issues relating to cycling and road safety. The hardest part is trying to manage the conflicts between different classes of users. In a sense e-scooter users are somewhat in the same bracket as cyclists but they are also different. On the one hand, they are vulnerable road users with respect to somebody in a larger mechanically propelled vehicle such as a motorbike, car, van, truck or bus in terms of the spaces those vehicles use but, on the other, they are potentially hazardous vehicles, whether stationary or moving in respect to particularly what one might call - this is not a technical term - the highly vulnerable user, including the person with a disability or mobility issues. We need to be incredibly conscious of those users.

We were recently preparing a response to a parliamentary question from a Deputy and we did not have the detailed information to provide on how many people with disabilities are among those killed. As I said last week, we try to think about a hierarchy in road safety, from the most vulnerable to the least. In that context, we are looking at how best to manage the arrival of this new form of mobility, as are all our international colleagues.