'Nothing should be off the table' – Murnane O'Connor calls for e-scooter crackdown, possible ban

Carlow-Kilkenny Minister of State Jennifer Murnane O’Connor has called for a major tightening of Ireland’s e-scooter laws, including the introduction of mandatory registration, insurance and taxation for privately owned devices, and has raised the possibility of an outright ban if tougher regulation is not enough.

In a statement issued today, 9 July, the Fianna Fáil TD said she had spoken to Minister for Transport Darragh O'Brien and Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan about “the urgency now needed to clamp down on e-scooters, citing a series of tragic incidents in Carlow and elsewhere in the country.

“The time has come to get tough on e-scooters,” she said. “We cannot continue to stand idly by while families are devastated by fatal collisions and while others are left with life-changing injuries, including catastrophic brain injuries.” Ms Murnane O’Connor said she wanted to see requirements for privately owned e-scooters brought into line with those already in place for other vehicles using the public road network.

“We have a responsibility as Government to put public safety first,” she said. “Nothing should be off the table. If stronger regulation proves insufficient, then we must be prepared to consider an outright ban on these devices on our roads.” The Minister of State said she was “particularly conscious” of recent incidents in Carlow, including the death of a young person and a further serious collision involving an e-scooter, and extended her sympathies to those affected.

“My thoughts and deepest sympathies are with all those who have lost loved ones and with everyone who has suffered serious injuries as a result of e-scooter collisions,” she said.

Her intervention comes after 17-year-old Janis Ozols, a student at Presentation College Carlow, died after falling from an e-scooter on Carpenters Way in Carlow town on the night of 29 June. He was taken to St Luke’s General Hospital in Kilkenny before being transferred to Beaumont Hospital in Dublin, where he later died. A second teenager who was travelling on the e-scooter was assessed at the scene but did not require hospital treatment. Gardaí have appealed for witnesses and dashcam footage.

Ms Murnane O’Connor also pointed to gaps in enforcement of the existing rules, in particular the minimum age requirement.

“It is already illegal for children under the age of 16 to use e-scooters on public roads, yet enforcement remains a significant challenge,” she said. “The law must be rigorously applied to protect young people and all road users.” Under the Road Traffic and Roads Act 2023, e-scooters were classified as a new vehicle category - Powered Personal Transporters - with regulations that came into force in May 2024. A compliant e-scooter can be ridden without a licence, insurance, tax or registration, provided it meets technical limits on power, weight and speed, but riders must be at least 16. Gardaí have the power to seize e-scooters used by under-16s, and parents can face prosecution for allowing it. E-scooters that exceed the technical thresholds fall instead into e-moped categories, which do require registration, tax, insurance and, in some cases, a licence and helmet.

Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly said last week that enforcement around e-scooters and scramblers had “certainly ramped up” on the back of recent legislation, with several hundred vehicles seized nationally since the start of the year, and that Gardaí had invested in equipment to test e-scooter speeds. He said the issue extended beyond policing to ‘societal behaviours', particularly the use of scramblers in some residential areas.