Criminal Justice (Public Order) (Quadbikes and Scramblers) (Amendment) Bill 2021: Second Stage [Private Members] Dail Éireann — 2021-09-23 ============================================================ Ossian Smyth (GP), Dún Laoghaire I am sharing my time. I thank the joint sponsors of the Bill, Deputies Paul Donnelly, Ellis, Seán Crowe, Mitchell, Ó Snodaigh, O'Rourke, Ó Murchú, Ward and Quinlivan, for raising what we all know is a very real problem, namely, the dangerous misuse of scrambler bikes and other vehicles. Deputies Donnelly and Crowe spoke from the heart. When Deputy Donnelly stated that urban Deputies would be more familiar with this problem, that is certainly true in my case. I thank Deputy Crowe for his invitation to visit his constituency. While I am willing to visit any constituency, I am aware of the issue. I was a councillor until last year and I was, and still am, directly in contact with people who have this problem. I imagine it is a problem in urban areas throughout the State. I am taking this matter on behalf of my colleagues, the Minister for Transport, Deputy Ryan, and the Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Deputy Naughton, who are attending a Council of Europe meeting of energy and transport ministers in Slovenia. We are not opposed to any measures which will successfully deal with the illegal use of such vehicles but officials in the Department of Transport, following consultation with the Department of Justice, An Garda Síochána and the Office of the Attorney General, are now finalising legislation which will comprehensively deal with the illegal use of quads and scramblers as part of the forthcoming Road Traffic and Roads Bill 2021. This legislation will ensure that scrambler and quad riders and owners can be prosecuted, and their vehicles detained, when they are being illegally used. While not opposing the Private Members' Bill in principle, there are a number of provisions which cause concern and it is for this reason that the Minister for Transport would prefer to wait to introduce legislation which has been drafted by the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel and approved by the Attorney General, to ensure its robustness. The definition of "all-terrain vehicle", while intending to deal primarily with quads and scrambler bikes, would need to be carefully examined to ensure that it does not inadvertently include agricultural vehicles, Army vehicles, mining vehicles and other industrial vehicles which are also primarily intended to be used off-road. The introduction to the Bill states that its purpose is "to amend and extend the Road Traffic Acts 1961 to 2020 to give gardaí the power to seize and detain quad bikes and scrambler motorcycles when being used unlawfully including in public parks and green spaces and to provide for related matters". Section 41 of the Road Traffic Act 1994, as amended, sets out the circumstances in which a garda may detain a vehicle in a public place. However, section 2 of this Bill provides that such vehicles be detained under the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997, and this could potentially lead to legal confusion. The Bill, in spite of the opening declaration, does not propose any amendments to the Road Traffic Acts. The Bill empowers the Minister to make regulations as may be necessary to enforce this legislation and for anything described as prescribed in the Bill. However, the Bill does not describe anything as prescribed, and it is not clear what regulations would be required. In summary, the Bill is an attempt to address a real problem, but is misguided. It is mostly aimed at providing powers which already exist under separate legislation and would, at best, create confusion around the current legislation relating to Garda powers. The legislation the Government will shortly introduce will tackle the issue of the illegal use of quads and scramblers comprehensively and effectively by creating an appropriate offence, and further empowering An Garda Síochána's powers of enforcement in this area. In this context, the Department of Transport, the Department of Justice and An Garda Síochána are satisfied that it will achieve this. I will do a summary in my wrap-up speech later in the debate. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2021-09-23/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:49:36+00:00 Sitting date: 2021-09-23