Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

In 2015 or early 2016, Deputy Gino Kenny and I organised a public gathering between Clondalkin and Ballyfermot because this was such a hot topic. Tragically, it was after the death of the 16 year old Warren Kenny on Christmas Day. It prompted us to push forward working with the youth groups to see what we could do to garner the energy around this as a sport. We looked for land from South Dublin County Council and Dublin City Council to develop a motocross track. We visited the tracks in East Wall and Mulhuddart to see how it all worked. I am sorry to say that that project does not seem to have moved forward. I think much of it relates to holding on to the land for the housing crisis and yet not even dealing with the housing crisis.

Nevertheless, as has been said, there is a need to address the issue of motocross quad bike use as something that is part of a culture and part of what young people do instead of always looking to punish and box them off to stop them doing it. Deputy Ellis of Sinn Féin has made a very sensible proposal that we fully support, which is to have some regulation and legislation on the use and sale of these bikes. If the Bill reaches Committee Stage, we should look at how we can regulate the sale and the authorisation of who can buy and own these bikes and what responsibility attaches to them. As everyone knows, when a car or a motorbike is bought, it has to have a logbook. Therefore, there is traceability of ownership and who has responsibility for it. There are many measures we could look at in terms of regulation attached to the Bill. It would be shameful for the Minister and his colleagues on the Government benches to try to block the passage of the Bill.

There have been at least two deaths of young men and the destruction of a young couple's lives in Darndale very recently. If that happened in the Minister's constituency, I am sure he would address it very rapidly. I am not implying that he is a snob in any way, but I am saying this is an issue that seems to affect working-class areas more than others. It must be addressed and it would be shameful for the Government to try to block the Bill. It should be passed and proceed to Committee Stage.

We should look seriously at what we can do in terms of regulation and also in terms of pursuing the need to develop motocross as a sport. Not only do young people learn a discipline around it, they also learn about mechanics and take an interest in the competitive sport in which they are involved, and it deals with the neglect of working-class areas that is wholesale in the places where we live.

We should not penalise people who use them. We should look to absorb it into the culture. We are talking about how we change the culture of the Garda following last week's report. We should also look at how we change the culture in our communities to make it better, healthier and more inclusive of everybody.

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