COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF TALLAGHT AREA COMMITTEE

Monday, June 26, 2023

QUESTION NO.

QUESTION: Councillor B. Pereppadan

"To ask the CEO for information and progress regarding new legislations to effectively tackle the illegal use of scramblers and for a timeframe and statement on the matter. The residents in Elder Heath as well as many other estates have greatly suffered due to this ongoing issue?"

REPLY:

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 the meetings of the task force 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. 

In parallel to the Council’s taskforce the Government put in place a cross departmental group to examine the issues at hand and in particular to examine the legal position with regard to existing legislation, with the assistance of the Attorney General’s Office. The legal advice provided by the Office of the Attorney General indicated that, in the main, current road traffic and public order legislation appears to provide sufficient means to police this issue. This view is shared by both the Department of Justice and the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport. The Department of Justice reconvened the cross-agency group to discuss this legal advice with members of An Garda Síochána (AGS); meeting with the Garda National Roads Policing Bureau (GNRPB), the Dublin Metropolitan Region (Tallaght District) and the Youth Diversion, Community Engagement & Public Safety Bureau and the general consensus at the time was that new legislative powers were not required. 

The situation has however moved on considerably since then with two separate pieces of legislation currently before the Houses of the Oireachtas in relation to the regulation of the use of scramblers in public places.  The new legislation is eagerly awaited as it is hoped that this will dramatically change the approach taken to the illegal use of scramblers and will help to rid our parks and open spaces of the scourge of scrambler motorbikes.  The new pieces of legislation are  -

The Road Traffic (All-terrain Vehicle and Scrambler Motorbike) (Amendment) Bill 2020 which is currently at stage 2 of the 11 stage process to pass the legislation, and

The Criminal Justice (Public Order) (Scramblers and Quadbikes) (Amendment) Bill 2021 which is also indicated to be at stage 2 of the process.

In addition to the work of the taskforce as outlined above the Council has completed a programme of boundary improvement works at locations where scramblers, quad bikes and stolen cars were gaining access to public parks. Substantial boundary improvement works have been carried out at Bancroft Park, Butler McGee Park, Jobstown Park, Tymon Park/Basketball Arena Road, Dodder Valley Park, Killenarden Park and Whitestown Stream  The construction of a reinforced concrete wall at the boundary of Killenarden Park and Knockmore Crescent and Drive was completed in 2020, as was the construction of a similar wall at St Cuthbert’s Park in Clondalkin. 

It should also be noted that Elder Heath has not been taken into charge by SDCC.