Ms Jean Andrews:

As to what should be in the legislation and technical specifications, everyone has talked about the treatment of shared scooters, standardisation and the introduction of self-diagnostic systems, for example, which can look at the various components of the scooter and make sure they are safe, prevent battery fires, etc. Education programmes are really important. The RSA could potentially introduce a countrywide education programme such that anyone operating an e-scooter would need to go through training, whether online or offline. We have done quite a lot in Nottingham, as I mentioned. In the UK we operate billboards with messaging for riders about not riding on the pavement and about wearing a helmet, parking considerately, etc. Operators can take on training to make people aware of how to ride safely.

I will make a final point about cycling infrastructure. The Government has announced €158 million in investment in cycling infrastructure in recent weeks or months, and that needs to be spent. The draft legislation envisages that e-scooters will be treated as bicycles and permitted to use cycling infrastructure. We all know that cycling infrastructure is not up to scratch not just in Ireland but in other places too. There is now a lot of money to invest in cycling infrastructure to improve and to enhance it. We talked earlier about pavement riding. Often, much of the reason people ride e-scooters and bikes on the pavement is that they just do not feel safe on the road with other traffic. Therefore, the sooner local authorities can spend that money and improve and enhance cycling infrastructure, the better and the sooner we will have a safer environment for not just e-scooter riders but also cyclists.