Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank all the witnesses. They have managed to get through a significant number of the questions. They spoke about geofencing and technology fixes. Thinking of some of the roads in Irish towns, we have an imperfect system as it is. When I visited Strasbourg some time ago, it was necessary to be watchful of getting run over by a bicycle or e-scooter but there was a significant amount of space on the roads and, to a degree, on the pavements, where riders were sectioned off. There are cycle lanes on pavements in some towns in Ireland. It is probably the case that a huge number of ad hocarrangements have happened. On some level, we might want to start all over again but we cannot do that.

I get what the witnesses are saying about riders experiencing a slowdown as they approach a pavement. Even in Strasbourg, with all its fabulous road networks, I noticed that riders just crossed over the pavements. There probably is an element that people have become accustomed to doing it. There is the question of what the operators can do and the reality of what happens in terms of private purchasers. There are young fellows buying e-scooters who go out on them dressed in black and without any lights on the vehicle. That is the type of behaviour we are getting complaints about at this point. What do the witnesses propose in this regard? What is absolutely necessary to be done in order to ensure safe use? I get the point about education and telling people what they should do, but how do we ensure all vehicles are sufficiently lit and are noisy enough, in line with what the National Council for the Blind of Ireland, the Irish Wheelchair Association, Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind and other organisations are seeking? In reality, those organisations are probably looking for speed limits that are a lot lower than what the witnesses want. It is a question of how we can deliver all of that, accepting that we all want it to happen.