Cork gardaí pay visits to owners of scrambler bikes in the city

Gardaí have door-stepped the owners of a number of scrambler bikes in Cork, with prosecutions arising from some of those encounters, a meeting of the Cork City joint policing committee (JPC) has heard.

The JPC meeting, which occurred this week in Cork City Hall, heard from one local councillor who thanked Garda Commissioner Drew Harris for his support in addressing the ongoing dangers posed by scrambler bikes on green areas and playgrounds across the city.

Councillor Ted Tynan, who is president of the Workers’ Party and represents the Cork North East ward, noted that scrambler bikes pose an unacceptable danger to residents, as well as causing noise pollution, and he called for continued resources to be made available to continue to tackle the issue.

Responding, Chief Superintendent Tom Myers, who is head of policing in the Cork City division, said Mr Tynan had been “banging this drum” on the dangers of scramblers for some time, and he said Superintendent Declan O’Sullivan would address the matter.

Supt O’Sullivan said the initiative of dealing with the issue of scrambler bikes had begun from the community safety forum in Mayfield, and he said gardaí had been working with both Mr Tynan in Mayfield and Fianna Fáil councillor Tony Fitzgerald in Gurranabraher since.

“We increased foot patrols as much as possible there.

“We also did a targeted media campaign with our colleagues in the media, in The Echo and Virgin Media News, and that got the message out about having a zero-tolerance approach to these scrambler bikes, particularly in residential areas,” Supt O’Sullivan said.

“Added to that, we identified the offenders in particular areas that councillor Tynan was referring to, and we actually door-stepped them, we actually called to the doors, spoken to parents, spoken to children, asked them to stop — some listened, and some didn’t.

“The ones that didn’t have been prosecuted, using legislation under Section 30 of the Road Traffic Act, and that’s before the courts, so I won’t comment any further on that,” he said.

“Just to say, that it is ongoing, and we thank the community for their support, and particularly a lot of phone calls, a lot of intelligence, and that will continue.”