Cork gardaí are seizing e-scooters, but say sale to minors must be curbed

Gardaí in Cork city are working hard to continue seizing e-scooters and scramblers, but have said that more must be done in the area of preventing the sale of the vehicles to minors.

It was one of a range of issues brought up at the Local Community Safety Partnership (LCSP) meeting in Cork City Hall last night.

Green Party councillor Dan Boyle asked if more could be done on the issue pre-emptively, to look at how these vehicles are being sold, but was told by gardaí present that this was a legislative matter and not for gardaí to enforce.

“There needs to be more of a focus on the selling of these items,” a garda spokesperson agreed.

“In the majority of cases it’s the parents who are buying them for their kids.”

However, he said that gardaí have also seen adaptive vehicles, such as ordinary pedal bikes with small petrol engines attached to make motorised vehicles.

Still a problem

The spokesperson said that e-scooter and scrambler use was still a problem.

“They’re using our walkways and greenways as areas of fun,” he said, and added that policing in this area was a big part of gardaí’s daily activities.

Terry Shannon, the chairman of the LCSP, praised gardaí for ramping up seizures, saying that Ballinlough has been plagued by these vehicles.

The Garda spokesperson said that their work also focuses on putting communities at ease, through sharing on social media when vehicles are seized.

In July and August, the Facebook page An Garda Síochána Cork shared 10 posts about seizures of e-scooters, scramblers, and e-bikes.

Sandy McGroarty, the co-ordinator of the LCSP at Cork City Council, said that she has received confirmation from the Road Safety Authority that it is working on a media campaign around the new regulations on e-scooters recently announced by the Government.

Mr Boyle submitted a motion calling for increased provision for youth services, “particularly for the identification and promotion of diversionary projects that have been shown historically as being effective in curbing the increase of antisocial behaviour”.

This will be an agenda item at future meetings, with input being sought from several youth organisations.

Mr Boyle told The Echo after the meeting: “The main point I was making is that the partnership needs to be responsive, not reactionary, on this.”