Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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256. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the steps he is taking to regulate e-scooters; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12810/23]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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Under current road traffic legislation, e-scooters are classed as mechanically propelled vehicles, the use of which requires tax, insurance and a driving licence. Since they do not fit into any existing licence category, it is not possible to tax or insure them and they may not be used on public roads or in public places. They may be used on private land with the landowner's permission.

The Programme for Government commits to legislating for e-scooters. The Road Traffic and Roads Bill 2021, which is before the Oireachtas, defines a new category of vehicle in the Road Traffic Act 1961, powered personal transporters or PPTs. Establishing this new vehicle category will enable me to put technical and other regulations in place to allow for the safe and legal use of e-scooters. Drafting of these regulations is under way.

It is anticipated that the Bill will be enacted in quarter two of this year. The use of e-scooters on public roads and in public places in Ireland will remain illegal until the regulations governing their use are in place. Work is already underway on drafting these regulations, in anticipation of enactment. The e-scooter draft technical regulations must then be submitted to the EU Technical Regulation Inspection Service (TRIS), under the Single Market Transparency Directive (EU) 2015/1535. This process, which allows Member states and the Commission to consider whether proposed technical legislation would create barriers to freedom of movement of goods or services within the EU, takes a minimum of 12 weeks to complete. I intend to submit the technical regulations to TRIS as soon as possible after the Bill is enacted.

Furthermore, officials in my department have recently established a working group which is meeting regularly to ensure all key agencies are working together in preparation for the coming into effect of these regulations.