Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

I listened to the Minister's speech and I was struck by how out of touch the Government is as regards seeing how significant an issue this is. That is nothing personal. This is a huge issue for working-class communities. The dangerous, irresponsible and unsafe use of scramblers and quad bikes is a scourge for working-class communities. It should be a major political issue but it is not treated that way by the Government and was not treated that way by the Minister in her response. I agree with Deputy Gino Kenny that the term "anti-social behaviour" is often overused but this is the definition of anti-social behaviour because it turns public spaces, which are social spaces to be used by communities for sports, walking, kids playing, and whatever else, into areas where people feel scared and do not feel able to use public facilities for what they are meant to be used for.

People are genuinely in fear of their kids going out to play on the green or in the playground because they might be hit by a scrambler or a quad. Older people who go for walks are genuinely in fear that they cannot go into the park, which at this time with Covid is more necessary for people than ever. The point has been made about sports teams having their facilities and their pitches ruined. None of that even touches what Deputy Paul Donnelly referred to with the tragedy of six people who have died over the past five years and 60 people who have been seriously injured by these bikes.

Communities feel deeply frustrated by the general response of the authorities to this problem. I spoke to a woman earlier who is involved in organising her community to stop this activity. She said she goes to the Garda which tells her to get on to the parks department of the council. When she does, the parks department tells her it is the Garda she should be talking to. People feel nothing is done to address it.

The majority of young people who are engaged in this anti-social behaviour are not bad or evil people. They need to be brought face to face with the impact of what they are doing. They need to understand that because of what they are doing, other people are scared or do not feel comfortable to use the parks that they should feel able to use. We need a programme of education around that, aimed at young people and making them realise the consequences of their actions, as well as aimed at parents who might be considering buying scooters or quads. In some cases, these can be very young children and it should be made clear that it is not an appropriate present.

We must look at the broader societal context. The point is being made repeatedly, and it is clearly accurate, that this is a problem that particularly exists to a much greater extent in working-class communities than in better-off communities. Why is that? Is there something inherent in the genes of working-class young people which makes them far more likely to want to get on a quad or scrambler to fly around the local park? Obviously there is not. It is linked to wider disadvantage, lack of opportunity and a lack of facilities. In my opinion, it cannot be separated from the kind of brutal cuts that we saw across the board throughout the course of the crisis, in particular to youth facilities. Between 2007 and 2015, youth services were cut by 31%. Even now, after some element of restoration, they are still down 15% than when before the crisis hit.

Actually investing in and giving people facilities, opportunities and so on is vital. I agree with Deputy Gino Kenny that part of that can actually be investing in motocross facilities, making it a safe, enjoyable sport for people to participate in as opposed to it being an anti-social action. These are the kind of alternatives that we need to provide for young people, as well as educating them and so on about the impact of their actions.

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