COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

South Dublin County Council Crest

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, November 13, 2017

QUESTION NO.18

QUESTION: Councillor C. O'Connor

To ask the Chief Executive if he has made any progress in devising an action plan to deal with the menace of scramblers in our Open Spaces throughout our county; will he appreciate the concerns of many in respect of this matter and will he present an update.

REPLY: 

The Council is aware of protracted and on-going problems associated with scramblers and has been working with An Garda Síochána in relation to this issue.

Public Realm works have been initiated in attempts to combat the problem e.g. run of 1.2 metre high fencing along the side of the green space areas, provision of bollards etc. but these have not stemmed the actions of a minority who continue to engage in anti-social and menacing behaviour.

Similarly, An Garda Síochána, South Dublin County Council and Motorcycling Ireland launched an awareness campaign about the correct use of quads bikes and scramblers in advance of Christmas 2016. This campaign requested parents who were considering buying these bikes as a Christmas present for their child to make sure that they were informed as to the legal requirements around these bikes and the use of them.

It is considered that the Council's Parks and Open Spaces Byelaws are sufficiently strong to enable enforcement by AGS within the Council’s parks and open spaces and Clause 3.1 h refers as follows "....... save with the permission of the Council, no person shall bring into a Park any Mechanically Propelled Vehicle which includes for the avoidance of doubt motorcycles, motor-cross / quad bikes or other powered vehicles. Such vehicles may be removed from the park / open space by An Garda Síochána".

While it is acknowledged that there is difficulty in bringing successful prosecutions, the Council passed a motion at the January 2017 Council meeting calling for the introduction of primary legislation to regulate ownership and use of vehicles. The Minister for Justice’s reply at that time indicated that such legislation would require a review of road traffic legislation and the communication had been referred to that Department.  As no response was received from the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, a reminder was recently issued to his office.

As the problem is not limited to any one area, it may be appropriate that the potential establishment of a county or regional task force be considered jointly by the Environment Public Realm and Climate Change and Land Use Planning & Transportation SPC and in the context of the region by the other Dublin LA's that are incurring similar scrambler related issues.