Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Táim ag roinnt mo chuid ama. Beidh 15 nóiméad agam agus cúig nóiméad ag an Teachta Cronin. Tá sé go maith go bhfuil deis againn labhairt ar an mBille seo. Déanfaidh sé athruithe áirithe do rialacha an bhóthair maidir le gluaisteáin agus na bealaí ina n-úsáideann muid na bóithre agus na cosáin. Baineann sé le scramblers, quads, e-rothair agus e-scooters agus forálacha eile maidir leis an M50 agus a leithéid, mar a luaigh na Teachtaí a labhair romham. Tá sé thar am go mbogfadh an Stát chun déileáil leis an gcrá croí leanúnach atá ann i gceantair áirithe sa chathair seo agus i gceantair agus bailte eile chuile Nollaig agus tríd an mbliain ar fad nuair a bhíonn quads nó scramblers ag rásaíocht gan stad suas agus síos na bóithre agus na heastáit tithíochta nó i bpáirceanna poiblí. Thar na blianta, chuala muid agus chonaic muid an damáiste a dhéanann siad, damáiste do dhaoine san áireamh. Tá roinnt daoine óga tar éis bás a fháil agus daoine eile tar éis a bheith gortaithe go dona toisc an bealach ina bhfuil na gléasanna seo á n-úsáid. Is innealra iad. Tá áit ann dóibh. Ní cóir é fáil réidh leo go hiomlán mar tá gá leo in áiteanna áirithe, go háirithe ar fheirmeacha agus i bhforaoisí agus áiteanna dá leithéid. Níl ról ann do quads i lár mo cheantair féin nó in aon áit atá tógtha mar sin. Tá ceisteanna móra anseo nach bhfuil freagartha. Táim ag tagairt do cheisteanna faoi chlogaid agus árachas agus faoi cad a tharlaíonn má leagann daoine ar e-scooter nó rothar páiste nó duine níos sine.

I do not want to be a killjoy. I do not want to try to prevent the growth of e-scooters or the likes in this city. I understand fully the benefits that they have for commuters and society as a whole in terms of how people get to and from work and the like, and how they will benefit us in terms of climate change. People will not be stuck sitting in cars with the engine running, as they will be able to get about a lot quicker on scooters. However, I have niggling doubts around the issue of insurance, given the speed at which some of these vehicles travel, whether it is an e-scooter or a motorised bicycle, which we see a lot more of today. Some people have converted such bikes themselves. It is not just about motorised bikes; old pedal bikes are also an issue. If a person on a bike hits a pedestrian who happens to step out in front of them, as far is I am aware, the law is very unsure as to who is to blame and who can make a claim. When I was pulling into my drive, a bicycle hit the side of the car. I had to cover the loss of the damage to the car; the cyclist had to cover the loss of the damage to his bike. It is a lacuna in the law. He should not have been on the path in any event but it is one of those issues.

I believe a lot more training must be provided on the rules of the road. Many people speak of witnessing cyclists coming up to a set of traffic lights and swinging round to the left. I am not just talking about such cases. Yes, that should not happen. Such behaviour is not as dangerous that of some of road users, who go straight through traffic lights, yellow boxes and the like with no regard whatsoever. Not so long ago, I saw four people riding on an e-scooter. Four fully grown adults went through the traffic lights on a scooter. I cannot think of anything worse. Dangerous and crazy stuff happens on the road. That is why we need more gardaí to police that aspect and dangerous driving. That is what it is, whether it is on a bicycle, an e-scooter or in a car. We do not have enough gardaí. If we do not have enough gardaí, then we need to look at ensuring that An Garda Síochána is fully resourced, that the traffic corps or the roads policing unit has the required supports needed to tackle not just the antisocial crime that we see on the Luas, the DART or mainline trains, but also what happens on the road.

That is not part of this Bill; it is part of an overall package. We are trying to win people over. I have heard all those who have whinged about people on scooters and so on. It is very easy to target one group or other or to dismiss them. E-scooters are here to stay, whether people like them or not. Like every other form of transport in this city or other cities, we need to educate those who are in charge of them. I did not see it, and it might be included in the legislation, but we must highlight the need for visibility. If you are using the road in the city, you must be visible. I presume that not many would be travelling along rural roads on scooters outside of the city, but they may be. Users of scooters should wear high-visibility clothing and use lights. People might ask where you would put lights on an e-scooter. There must be lights on scooters, because otherwise, you cannot see them. If a person gets onto a scooter at night wearing dark clothing, you will not see him or her.

Another point I wish to raise is the debate around helmets, clogad. It is not compulsory for cyclists to wear a helmet. In this day and age, that is mad. It should be compulsory for anybody who is renting out bikes in the city. The same goes for the users of e-scooters. It is for the safety of the users; it is not for the safety of anybody else. If you get hit by a person wearing a helmet, it is going to be sore for you, but it is for their safety if they hit the road. I say that as somebody who has been in many an accident as a cyclist over the years. I have cycled all my life and have had many a scrape with the roads and paths in those years. I have survived to tell the tale where others have not, and that is the problem. Others have fallen off their bikes and have been left severely brain damaged or worse. We enforced the wearing of helmets on motorbikes many moons ago. I remember the days when they were not there. We also introduced the compulsory wearing of helmets in hurling. You would not go onto a hurling pitch now without wearing a helmet. I remember when that was introduced, people complained that we were a nanny State. There are many people out there who are glad that they had the helmet on when they were playing hurling. The same is true of those riding motorbikes. I appeal to the joint committee and the Minister of State, when they are looking at the legislation, to seek to ensure that it forms part of the package of rolling this legislation out fully.

I note that the last speaker, Deputy O'Donnell, mentioned spaces in the city centre, or wherever, to park bicycles and the like. If you go to Amsterdam, you will see huge bike parks. The bikes are parked right on top of each other. It is great to see. If you go into Dublin city centre, you will see very few bikes because they are robbed all the time, because they are not secure. That is one of the problems. They are not secure and we do not have the Garda numbers, the wherewithal or even sometimes the interest to chase up the theft of bikes. An Garda Síochána has done great work in recovering some bikes, but others just seem to disappear into thin air. There need to be more secure spaces to park bikes. There are bike lockers, or the like, in some parts of the city. Perhaps we should encourage car parks - which are half empty in many cases, and hopefully will be empty, as we are trying to discourage people from coming into the city centre with cars - to introduce bike lockers or lockers for e-scooters. Perhaps they could make a few bob in the process, but I would not necessarily encourage that The provision of such lockers would reassure people that their bike or scooter will be somewhere safe and will be dry when they come back to collect it, perhaps if it has been raining all day.

There is much to be welcomed in this Bill. There are other things that need to be said as well. People may have already done it, but every year, An Garda Síochána issues a call to parents not to buy scramblers or quad bikes for their children.

At least the Bill will make it an offence to sell them to those aged under 16 which I welcome. I appeal again to parents not to buy them, given the torture that communities have experienced year in and year out. They are not suitable for built-up local authority and other housing estates in the city. I also appeal to An Garda Síochána to take action a lot quicker where a nuisance or danger is being created by these quads and scramblers.

There is another missed opportunity in the Bill. This is an issue I and colleagues have raised with a number of Ministers with responsibility for transport. It is a pity it is not being addressed given the scope of the Bill. This is the issue of horse-drawn carriages and the fact there is no proper licensing system. The legislation that covers them is the Dublin Carriage Act 1853. To this day, people can be fined one penny or one shilling or face hard labour. This is the extent of it. Dublin is peculiar in this because it is the only area affected by the Act. This means other local authorities can regulate but the local authority in Dublin cannot do so. The council has asked, as have councillors from all parties, for the Minister to repeal it and put in place legislation that would deal with the carrying of passengers on horse-drawn vehicles which, in many cases, are not suitable and sometimes collapse. There is no insurance on many of them. There is no horse welfare associated with them. In this city we have seen horses that are in danger because they are carrying a load and they are not fit for it. It is tantamount to horse cruelty in these instances. There is a whole layer in this. I appeal to the committee to see whether there is a way to ensure this is slotted in because it deals with road users.

Another issue is the roads themselves, given the dangerous state of a lot of them, especially on parts that are often left to one side for bicycle lanes. Sometimes they are the areas that get the most works, such as sewerage works, carried out on them. They are often left in a bad state afterwards. This is also the case with some of the paths that we walk on in this city and other cities.

I have raised the issue with the Minister of other road users, such as the blood bike service. I have asked for it to get an exemption from road tax or a rebate. They are motor cycles in the main that ferry blood, blood samples and breastmilk from, for example, the Irish Blood Transfusion Service to hospitals. It is regarded by all of the other emergency services as an emergency service. It would not be a huge imposition that they be given a rebate or that they be allowed to use bus lanes. There are very few of them and it would not interfere with other users of the bus lanes

The next major point I want to make is with regard to the chaos in driving test centres. Last night, I had communication from somebody whose daughter did her driving test. Her permit was six days out of date but the inspector allowed her to go out and do the test. Then, when she went to get her licence, even though she had been told it was grand, she was then told she would have to resit the test. There is absolute chaos about how some of the testers are using the system. I do not know whether they have a quota that they must achieve each day with regard to who sits and who does not. There needs to be a change and a tightening up. There also needs to be a speeding up to address the huge backlog.

I hope the Bill does not get delayed on Committee Stage, although I agree with Deputy O'Donnell that there is a need for amendments to tighten it up. I hope we can work quickly because people in this city in particular are crying out for legislation to allow e-scooters on the roads so that young people can buy them without the fear they would be confiscated by An Garda Síochána, as has happened to a number of people who have contacted me over the years. This is because of the confusion as to whether or not they are allowed on the roads and whether people have to wear a helmet or have insurance. Some young people have suffered the consequences of a lacuna in the law on these issues. There is also a lacuna in the law with regard to horse and carriage legislation.

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