Road Traffic Offences
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-27
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Jim O'Callaghan (FF), Dublin Bay South

However, I can tell the Deputy, having been at Cabinet this morning and having listened to the Taoiseach, there is a real commitment to ensuring this is done urgently. These are regulations that are being prepared in the Department of Transport. They will be signed by the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, who has delegated responsibility for road safety. There is a real urgency coming from the top of Government, from the Taoiseach, and all of us, to ensure that is done as quickly as possible.
I cannot give the Deputy a timeline but the advantage of having the legislation in place is that all we require is for the regulations to be drafted, sent to the Office of Parliamentary Counsel and the Attorney General's office, stamped and signed. There is an urgency and real pressure on Government to do that, as there should be, and ensure those regulations are signed promptly.
In terms of how the Deputy talks about regulating it, in many respects, it is not dissimilar from the discussion about nitrous oxide. Nitrous oxide can be used for legitimate purposes. It can be bought for legitimate purposes. Similarly, scramblers can be used for legitimate sporting purposes. If we are going to introduce a system of regulating the sale of them, we will have to set out a mechanism as to what will be required in order for someone to be able to purchase them and where they can be used.
We will still have the issue for which regulations need to be put in place so that they are banned on public roads and in public parks. I have to say to the Deputy that if we could achieve that and get them banned on public roads and in public parks, that meets the cry from the Lynch family in terms of what they want. It meets the demands of this House as well.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-27/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:01+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-27