Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for raising this matter. We are all aware that the irresponsible and antisocial use of scramblers and quads can cause death or serious injury, as well as wider disturbance and nuisance. The incident to which both Deputies alluded is a good example of the dangers involved. Many of these vehicles are used by minors and are provided to them by family members and others, who are also acting irresponsibly, putting the users and others at risk.

As Minister of State, I have responsibility for legislation in the area of vehicles and the area of traffic on public roads. Scrambler motorbikes and quadricycle bikes are classed as mechanically-propelled vehicles. It is an offence to supply a mechanically-propelled vehicle to anyone under the age of 16, and to supply one to a person under 17 unless it is a vehicle of a class which can legally be driven by a 16 year old. "Supply" in this context covers selling, renting, loaning, giving as a gift, or any other form of making the vehicle available to a minor.

Under road traffic legislation, the user of a scrambler or quad in a public place must have insurance, road tax and a driving licence and must also wear a helmet. There are stringent penalties under the road traffic laws for not being in compliance with these requirements. For the purposes of the Road Traffic Acts, a "public place" means any public road and any street, road or other place to which the public has access with vehicles whether as of right or by permission and whether subject to or free of charge. Road traffic legislation does not extend to private property, including municipal or other publicly-owned parks which are under the control of local authorities and subject to their bye-laws.

Enforcement of legislation is the responsibility of the Garda. If a person supplies a vehicle to a minor or uses a quad bike or scrambler in a public place without tax or insurance, or in contravention of any other law, the Garda has the legal powers to address these matters. The laws available to address the scrambler problem include not only those under my Department but also public order legislation under the Department of Justice and Equality which can be applied in parks. Local authorities have the power to introduce bye-laws to prohibit the use of vehicles in areas under their control. The unauthorised use of off-road vehicles is prohibited in certain national parks and the Minister with responsibility for rural and Gaeltacht affairs has powers to prohibit their unauthorised use.

We know that the problem of antisocial and dangerous behaviour involving scramblers and quads continues. This raises questions of how best to tackle the problem and one aspect of that is looking at whether changes to legislation would help. A working group was set up by the Department of Justice and Equality that looked at a cross-agency approach to tackling the illegal use of quad bikes and scramblers during 2019. The group includes representatives from my Department, as well as the Department of Justice and Equality, the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, the Courts Service and the Garda. One option considered related to the fact that the Road Traffic Acts apply to a "public place", a legal term which does not include a public park. As many of the problems with scramblers and quads arise in public parks, there were suggestions that redefining a public place to include a public park might help by extending certain Garda powers into parks. However, following legal advice, it became clear that this would create serious unintended consequences. The concept of a public place is fundamental to traffic law and redefining a park as a public place would mean extending a vast body of traffic law into parks with a wide range of consequent legal difficulties. It is most likely that a comprehensive solution will have to involve a range of measures including legislation, enforcement and public education, as the Deputies have outlined.

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