Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the introduction of this omnibus Bill to the House. I agree with previous speakers that its contents will make a significant improvement in a number of areas that affect road users across the State. This Bill deals with a number of different policy areas. I will use my time to address some of the most significant issues.

Crucially, this legislation will begin the process of regularising the use of electric scooters and certain electric bikes as well as providing for other forms of micromobility in the future. As the Minister of State will be aware, in March of this year I introduced a Private Member's Bill to do just this. I am pleased that she and the Government have acted on this issue. This will result in safer roads.

E-scooters and e-bikes are a common sight on our roads and streets across Ireland and have been for a number of years. They provide a clean, sustainable and effective way of completing the last mile of a journey and provide people with an alternative means of getting from A to B. Despite their frequent use and presence on our streets, they remain illegal. Fine Gael has been active in pursuing legislation in this area both in the previous Dáil, through myself, my former colleague, Noel Rock, and others, and in this Dáil, with the assistance of the Minister of State. The programme for Government set out an ambition for us to see the use of these vehicles legislated for and regulated. The introduction of the Bill will be a positive day for many users of e-scooters and e-bikes and for the businesses involved in their sale. The creation of a new class of vehicle in this Bill will see e-bikes and e-scooters no longer classified as mechanically propelled vehicles but rather as personal powered transporters, PPTs. Importantly, the Bill will give the Minister the ability to address future technologies and micromobility options under this category of vehicle, allowing us to be more proactive and less reactive in this field of transport. We are currently confined under the Roads Acts.

I am also pleased that the creation of the PPT category will see these vehicles exempt from requiring insurance, licensing, tax and registration. They will be treated like bicycles, which are capable of far exceeding these vehicles' speeds. We must regulate for the safe use of these vehicles but, in doing so, we should not create barriers to their use. These vehicles are electric and environmentally friendly and provide people with a climate-responsible option for travelling across our cities, towns and villages.

I regularly speak in this House about the need to create a more environmentally-friendly society, which would not only benefit our personal health, but also reduce emissions and pollution and protect the planet, allowing us to pass on a healthy and habitable earth to our children and grandchildren. This also offers great possibilities to Ireland and its people. The green economy is a chance for Ireland to capture significant investment and attract international companies, while also developing global companies here at home. Historians often remark that Ireland missed the Industrial Revolution and, in the time that followed it, swept away what remnants there were in respect of our railways. In doing so, we missed the rewards of such development. We are now in a position to be a leader in a new green industrial revolution, which has the potential to bring new levels of prosperity to our country while providing sustainable jobs for our people well into the future. We can achieve this if we have the will and imagination to act. By regulating and legislating for PPTs such as e-scooters and e-bikes, we can begin to foster growth in these companies, some of which are Irish or have expressed an interest in entering the Irish market, having been unable to do so to date. Some of the companies that have their origins in Ireland started out in third-level institutions such as Dublin City University and University College Dublin.

There are, rightly, some concerns among the public regarding the safety of these vehicles. Speed limitation devices, minimum age requirements for their use and offences relating to driving without consideration are all areas that should be considered in the context of this Bill. Moreover, we should consider the role of ride-sharing companies and the place they will hold in the micromobility sector in Ireland in the not-too-distant future. While yesterday evening the Minister of State rightly pointed out that the operation of these types of schemes will be managed by local authorities, we should consider what that means. As has been mentioned, Ireland is behind the curve with regard to this technology when compared with our European partners. This will allow us to learn from the mistakes of others and avoid the pitfalls they have experienced. To this end, I believe that full harmonisation should take place in respect of ride-sharing schemes implemented by local authorities, which I presume will happen next year. The NTA has a significant role to play in the process, setting out standards and requirements.

Furthermore, any ride-sharing service should be geofenced. This simply means that e-scooters and e-bikes must be returned to a specific and designated location by the user at the end of a journey. This is not dissimilar to the way in which DublinBikes scheme, among others, operates. Stands on our roads will be required as e-scooters, in particular, tend not to stand by themselves. Experience in other jurisdictions shows that electric scooters do not stand on their own unless delivered with a stand, which is unlikely in a ride-sharing operation. We do not want to see them lying about on the street.

The introduction of geofencing will avoid this scenario. One of my colleagues attended an Inter-Parliamentary Union, IPU, conference in Rome recently and told me e-scooters were all over the streets there, which shows some people are not learning from the experience of other jurisdictions.

The distance these vehicles can travel greatly exceeds how far somebody might travel on a bicycle. For instance, DublinBikes stations are limited to the area between the canals, whereas an electric scooter has the capacity to travel up to 30 km. On that basis, consideration should be given, particularly in cities and counties where there are multiple local authorities, to designating one or two providers for that area, as opposed to local authorities approaching different organisations. Accordingly, if I wanted to get on a scooter in Dublin city, whether at Busáras or Heuston Station, and travel to Howth, which I would be well able to do on an electric scooter, I could leave it in Howth. That is why uniformity is required by local authorities and the NTA has a significant role to play in that regard.

I had prepared a longer contribution but my time has expired.

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