Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Bill and pledge the support of the Social Democrats for it. I commend Deputies Ellis and Munster for taking the initiative to bring it forward. This is the second time Deputy Ellis has tabled a Bill on this matter. Many Members, including Deputy Ellis and me, have raised this issue consistently over many years. Unfortunately, our pleas have fallen on deaf ears. Consistently, Ministers in this and the previous Government have completely ignored this emerging issue. Because it has been ignored for so many years, it can now be described as an epidemic facing many urban communities, in particular in cities. The use of scramblers, quads and motorcycles is the single issue most often raised with me and constituency colleagues at community meetings. Whether the Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, believes that, I do not know, but the Government's actions to date indicate that it does not recognise it as a serious problem. Any urban Deputy who is in anyway active in his or her constituency will tell one that this is the biggest issue being raised in urban communities. It is an absolute scourge, in particular in working class areas.

The issue is not the legal use of these vehicles. Some of our rural Deputies raised concerns about their farmer colleagues, but this is not about people using quads, scramblers or motorbikes legally. It is about people using them illegally. Principally, we are talking about people who are over 16 and using them illegally and the even bigger problem of minors using them. These vehicles are the new urban horse as others have said. They have taken such a grip in local communities that it is now commonplace for young people to get them as Christmas, birthday, confirmation or even communion presents. It is standard now in local communities for this to be a huge public safety issue for the young people themselves who ride the vehicles but also for people using our streets and parks. It is an issue for other children who have a legitimate right to go out on their own estates or local parks and greens to play safely. Unfortunately, that is not possible in many housing estates at this stage due to this problem. As to involving young people in sport, we receive regular complaints of pitches being churned up overnight or in recent days by youths on scramblers and quads. They fly around pitches doing wheelies and damaging pitches, which prevents other children from playing sport in their local areas.

These vehicles are having a huge impact. They are also very frightening for older people. Indeed, they are frightening for people of any age. There is a real fear now that when one is out walking in one's local estate or park, one is putting oneself in danger of being hit by one of these vehicles. That is one of the things the Bill seeks to address. For a number of years, gardaí have told public representatives at public meetings that it is not possible for them to take any action in respect of this activity if it is based on local greens, public parks or fields because road traffic legislation does not apply to those areas. Gardaí say their hands are tied for this reason. That is the principal way in which the Bill proposes to deal with one aspect of this problem. Action to deal with this is overdue but there has been no response from the Government whatsoever. There have been literally hundreds of parliamentary questions, Topical Issues have been raised and there have been various debates in the House over the years.

There has been no response whatsoever from Government to date as to how to address the specific problem of this high level of activity going on in our parks and public open spaces and the law enforcement authorities being powerless to deal with it. I do not know whether it is the Minister of State who will respond or what will happen with this Bill, but the Government must reply to us and say how it will deal with this very real problem. It has been identified by gardaí over many years. They are precluded from taking any action in these circumstances, yet there is no response from Government as to how they can be dealt with.

My principal concern is underage people using these bikes. It is commonplace to see youngsters as young as seven or eight going around on these bikes, sometimes two or even three of them on the one small quad bike or scrambler, flying around local estates. Nothing is being done about this because the advice to gardaí, understandably, is not to give chase or to pursue young people engaged in this activity because of the potential dangers involved, but that is not good enough. Gardaí are being advised not to pursue them, but what are we going to do about this?

About this time last year, I raised this with the Minister responsible at that point, Deputy Flanagan, and asked him to arrange a public awareness campaign in the lead-up to Christmas because it has now become standard practice, because of the failure of the authorities and the Government to act in this area, that these vehicles are given to children as presents. There is a need for a public awareness campaign telling parents that they and their children will be breaking the law if they go out on these presents. The response I got at the time was that the Garda press office issued a press statement. Let us get real about this. It is a really serious problem that needs to be dealt with. There is a need for an awareness campaign and for it to be made very clear to parents that they are breaking the law if they allow their children to do this. Equally, the law on the sale and supply of these vehicles needs to be strengthened. The Garda's hand needs to be strengthened in terms of powers to seize and dispose of these vehicles in certain circumstances.

Very many actions could be taken but, unfortunately, none has been taken to date. The multi-agency task force was set up last April after much pressure on the Minister. It has met twice and nothing has come out of it yet. There is no sense of urgency whatsoever on the part of the Government, on the part of either the Minister for Justice and Equality or the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport. They should both be taking ownership of this. It is only a matter of time before there are more serious accidents and other people die as a result of this. Will the Minister of State wake up? This is a huge public safety issue and a huge issue of disregard for the law and growth in anti-social activity. What we need now is action from the Government.

See this speech in context