Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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626. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his plans to legislate to address the regulation of rickshaws in Dublin and other urban tourist centres. [7950/15]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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Currently, rickshaws are not specifically defined in law, nor is there any legislation to regulate carriage of passengers by these vehicles.  Rickshaws fall under the category of pedal cycles for legal purposes.  If we were to consider creating a separate class of vehicle licence to cover rickshaws, the primary reason would be to promote safety.  While I am open to considering this, neither An Garda Síochána nor the Road Safety Authority, the two bodies most involved in road safety issues, has raised any concerns with my Department about the safety aspect of rickshaws.

Dublin City Council has written to me regarding the need to regulate rickshaws from a number of perspectives but primarily health and safety.  However its legal advisors have advised that the type and extent of regulation proposed would appear to go beyond what a local authority would usually wish to regulate by bye-laws under the Local Government Act 2001. The Council sought that provision be made through primary legislation to regulate the operation of rickshaws.

As it is a requirement that a Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) be prepared in respect of any proposal to Government seeking permission to regulate through primary legislation and given that rickshaws are a local matter, I have responded to the Council that it would be appropriate that the Council  prepare a RIA. The purpose of the RIA is to establish more clearly the issues that need to be addressed and the kind of regulatory initiative that is most appropriate to deal with those issues. The RIA would include, amongst other things, an assessment of the measures that could be adopted within the existing bye-law making powers of local authorities and also help determine whether any proposal for primary legislation should be dealt with as a matter of road traffic legislation or local government legislation.