Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The legislation and the amendment will allow us to focus on things other than electric vehicles. Therefore, I look forward to them supporting the amendment on that basis.

On that idea of infrastructure, it is crucially important we get the infrastructure in place in order that people have the confidence to make the switch. It will be a very difficult switch. The cost aside, although that is a significant factor, the infrastructure will be crucially important. I especially welcomed when the Minister came to Finglas a couple weeks ago where Dublin City Council installed a new mobility hub, which included charging points for electric bikes and cars and a bike-sharing scheme by the ESB. It is a publicly funded project, but we need to see far more of them.

As the site is owned by the council, in some ways, we are taking public space away to provide this facility, and I understand that, but we also have to look at private infrastructure providers. There are many petrol stations in urban and suburban areas that could accommodate more charging points. A petrol station very close to me no longer does car washing and has the equivalent of 14 or 15 car parking spaces that lie pretty much idle most of the time. It could provide the infrastructure for e-charging.

We need to look at the infrastructure for those who do not have driveways. Many people want to have the insulation of a socket where they can plug the car in, but in doing so, it would drape across a public footpath, and that, we know, would not be satisfactory. We need to get better at making sure of the regulations around how that is done and that the interaction with the local authority and so on is reduced and we need to put more supports in place for our local authorities to continue. The scheme the Minister opened in Finglas was very good.

The legislation also deals with the issue of scrambler bikes. It takes a very strong line on how they should be dealt with, giving the Garda increased powers to ensure bikes can be seized from the curtilage of the property and bringing in a new classification of vehicles and so on. That is very welcome. As a first-time Deputy, it is a bit soul destroying that the Minister, along with the Taoiseach and others, agreed that at Cabinet in January 2021 and we have not yet passed the legislation through the House. I encourage the Minister to continue because it will make a life-changing impact.

Deputies throughout the House, including those from Sinn Féin, Fine Gael, the Labour Party and all parties, acknowledge that we need to take strong action on scrambler bikes, and I very much welcome it. What I do not want to see is e-scooters, which are a very good low-carbon option when used properly on cycling lanes within the network, replacing the antisocial behaviour that happens on scrambler bikes. We regularly see, outside schools and in our local villages, e-scooters being used on public pavements. It would be disappointing to, in one breath, close the door on the scrambler bike antisocial behaviour and, in another, not do enough to tackle the antisocial behaviour that arises from e-scooters.

Some of it will be a Garda matter. I know there are limitations in this Bill that talk about responsible use of e-scooters, but I ask the Minister to press on the Minister for Justice to ensure the Garda, as well as getting additional powers on the issue of scramblers, also implement the obligations e-scooter riders will be under in this legislation. This is about giving people more options to allow them to have a lower carbon impact on the planet. We need to have politicians who are climate brave and are willing to say things that sometimes might be unpopular or on which they might need to lead people. Some of the contributions here today were more about scaring people about electric vehicles than providing the infrastructure, which we all know needs to be provided.

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