Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It just seems to me that we have the law and law enforcement but there is a middle layer from Garda headquarters. I am specifically referring, on this occasion, to scrambler bikes. A diktat went out from Garda headquarters in Phoenix Park. We have the law which provides for the apprehension, confiscation and removal of these bikes and we have gardaí wanting to enforce it but in the middle, it is my understanding that a direction came from the Phoenix Park to the effect that gardaí should not pursue anyone on a scrambler bike who is not wearing a helmet. The reality is that in some cases, it is children on scrambler bikes messing around on green open spaces but very often, as gardaí will attest, these bikes are being used as drug mules. They are drug mules, effectively. Those on the bikes know that if they are not wearing a helmet, gardaí will not chase them. They can bring drugs down along riverbanks and in through alleyways that a car cannot get down. They can get in and out quickly and nobody will follow them. They act with impunity. Has An Garda Síochána headquarters said that, regardless of what the law says, this is what we are going to do? Has it said that gardaí should not pursue them?