Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Having been here since 1.30 p.m., I am happy to share my time with whoever wants to share time. Given the magnitude of the presentations today and the myriad of issues that have been presented to us around the management, ownership and behaviour of those who use e-scooters, I think that as part of our private meeting this week or next week, we should have a discussion on how we can take forward the presentations made today. It is not acceptable that a letter of acknowledgement is given to people who put forward a very insightful presentation. I have received emails from people who are able-bodied who have complained to me in the context of the illegal manner of e-scooters on footpaths. In one case, a gentleman was involved in a very serious accident with an e-scooter where he had reason to go to the local Garda station following an encounter with an e-scooter rider who followed him, assaulted him, then got back on his scooter and sped off. That case concerned an able-bodied person. Taking the presentation today about our citizens who are visually impaired, have sight loss or are disabled in some capacity, as we heard, they experience very different types of encounters. My best contribution is to ask the members to take today's presentations and to park them in the context of an overarching strong approach by the committee. Quite clearly, the advent of these scooters is one that has been supported by many of us, including the members of this committee, but there are clear difficulties that need to be addressed not just by us, but across Departments and by law enforcement and city and county councils.

I thank our witnesses most sincerely for what has been a very strong presentation and perhaps one of the best presentations we have heard in our committee to date. We have a lot of work to do around the regulation of e-scooters. I will leave it at that.