Reply - M3 Scramblers

That this Council writes to the Government welcoming the decision to introduce and progress legislation to deal effectively with the ongoing menace of the illegal use of Quads/Scramblers which has been raised many times on this Council's agenda and the Joint Policing Committee and will the Chief Executive take the opportunity to update members in respect of his efforts to deal with the matter.

In 2017 South Dublin County Council convened a taskforce consisting of SDCC, Dublin City Council, Fingal County Council, Dept of Justice, An Garda Siochana, the Road Safety Authority and Motocross Ireland to examine the issue of scramblers being driven in public parks and open spaces. Some of the issues which arose at meetings of the task force in 2017 and 2018 were that the Gardai do not currently have the power to pursue scrambler bikes, to stop them, to impound them, to pursue them to other locations and to question the owners and drivers about their movements. It was felt that these issues needed to be addressed by new legislation. Equally the Council has been unable to date to identify the drivers of these vehicles and to hold them responsible for damage caused to parks and open spaces.

SDCC has engaged regularly with the Department of Justice and provided updates to Members when they were received.

On the 16th February 2021, it was announced that the Minister for Transport will be introducing proposals to amend the forthcoming Road Traffic (Miscellaneous) Bill, aimed at tackling the antisocial use of scrambler bikes and other off road machines, such as Quad bikes, in spaces such as Public Parks.

The legislation will introduce three specific measures:

• Use of a MVP will be prohibited on public or private land, except in cases where there is permission from the landowner. This proposed new offence will cover places such as parks, green areas, waste ground, beaches and others, while the use of vehicles on private lands (such as farms) will not be affected.

• An Garda Síochána will be given powers to detain a vehicle used in a location where permission from the landowner has not been received.

• An Garda Síochána will also be enabled, on foot of a warrant, to enter a private premises and remove a vehicle suspected of having been used contrary to the new offence