Remove the menace of scrambler bikes from beleaguered communities. Take them off the streets.
This is going to be done.
It’s only a matter of time.
Yes, it has been 2½ years since the legislation was passed but nearly all of it has been enacted apart from a few important bits which they were definitely going to get around to sooner rather than later at some stage.
Then, after the whole enactment thing comes the enforcement thing which, you know, is difficult but has always been very high up on the to-do list once advices have been taken and evaluations carried out and all within a clear legal framework and…
It’s only a matter of time before someone is killed by a recklessly driven scrambler bike.
People have been saying it for years.
On Sunday, that grim prophecy came to pass.
Few are surprised.
“It was, in reality, only a matter of time before somebody was killed. Now, that somebody has a name.
“Her name is Grace Lynch.”
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald was speaking in the Dáil two days after Grace was “mown down” by a scrambler bike as she was crossing the road in the north Dublin suburb of Finglas.
“She was 16. A young woman with her whole life ahead of her. The apple of her father’s eye and her mother’s pride and joy. Killed on the road in her own community as she went about her everyday 16-year-old life.
“Every parent’s worst nightmare. Every family’s worst nightmare. Every young person’s worst nightmare.”
Flowers left at the pedestrian crossing where 16-year-old Grace Lynch was fatally injured as a result of being hit by a scrambler bike at Ratoath Road in Finglas. Photograph: Alan Betson
A subdued Dáil contemplated that harrowing reality on Tuesday.
“Scrambler bikes have been the scourge of working-class communities in Dublin and beyond for years. Neighbourhoods being terrorised by antisocial behaviour involving these bikes is nothing new,” Deputy McDonald told the Taoiseach during Leaders’ Questions, accusing his government of failing to listen to communities dealing with this menace and “dragging its heels” on the law.
“Her death cannot be in vain, because Grace Lynch matters. What happened to her matters. What happens next really matters. The Government must act”
Labour leader Ivana Bacik also demanded immediate action to address what is a “nationwide problem” involving scramblers and quad bikes. What happened in Finglas was down to “a failure of enforcement, a failure of regulation, a failure of political will and a lack of urgency in tackling this”.
While the Government finally brought in legislation in 2023, she reminded him that of the shocking case of Ilabek Avetian, who suffered catastrophic injuries in a Dublin park back in 2018 when he was hit by a scrambler bike.
That should have been the wake-up call for action.
The death of Grace Lynch must be that “watershed moment” now, said Ivana.
“Her death cannot be in vain,” said Mary Lou.
Both leaders agreed that action is what matters now.
The nightmare of Sunday’s horrific collision has shocked the Government into immediate action.
Micheál Martin, accepting that the final parts of the legislation should have been addressed sooner and the necessary regulation introduced to facilitate them, was uncompromisingly decisive.
He has a tendency sometimes to talk around issues. He is fond of a taskforce. He likes a scoping committee. He is partial to the multi-agency approach. These things can take time.
Time that Grace Lynch didn’t have.
A ban on scrambler bikes may not have saved her life. We will never know. But it may have.
“Those final regulations need to be dealt with – they should have been,” said the Taoiseach, making no excuses. “It will happen.”
He knew – as everyone else in the chamber knew, that words are no consolation.
“Nothing that I can say can, in any way, ease the devastation, the pain, the hurt, the anger that Grace’s family feels right now.”
He spoke haltingly, but there was a directness in his replies that aren’t always so clear during the combative back and forth of Leaders’ Questions.
“There is no need, there should be no scramblers on public roads,” he said.
“We have it within our power to make that happen. And it will happen.”
It was the Sinn Féin leader, flanked by local Finglas TD Dessie Ellie, who conveyed the anger of sick and tired residents who have to put up with the constant fear, danger and disruption caused by people “running amok” in working-class areas.
The Taoiseach said he had heard the anger from the community.
“And we are going to act.”
He will act in the case of the specialist Garda drone unit set up to tackle the scramblers which hasn’t seen a day’s action since it was established a number of years ago.
He has already been on to the Garda Commissioner, Justin Kelly. He will take “a more intensive approach” to pursuing the policy. He was convening an “immediate” meeting of the relevant Government departments – Justice and Transport – “to just get this done”.
He will ban scrambler bikes from public roads altogether.
Furthermore, Micheál told Opposition speakers, he will “gladly” work with them if there is a need to strengthen the existing legislation to make it stronger.
The Attorney General told him no additional laws are needed to do this. All this can be done without any additional laws being passed.
“If the gardaí don’t need additional powers,” remarked Ivana Bacik, “then let’s get additional gardaí.”
There was a sorrowful determination to the Taoiseach’s words.
No ifs and no buts, just a blunt “It will be done.”
Siobhán Lynch leads a vigil in memory of her daughter Grace. Photograph: Colin Keegan/Collins
The Dáil had recognised the courage and fortitude of Grace’s heartbroken mother Siobhán. Despite her grief, she addressed a vigil in Finglas on Monday night and vowed to fight until those scramblers were taken off the streets.
“This is a fight she should not have to take on,” said Mary Lou McDonald.
Micheál Martin clearly agrees.
Later, during questions on policy, Gary Gannon of the Social Democrats spoke of Siobhán Lynch’s extraordinary courage. “She will need our support.”
Was there not a provision in the 2023 legislation for the prohibition on the use of these lethal machines in urban areas?
“You’re correct,” replied Micheál. “The legislation can and does allow for the banning of such vehicles from our public roads and that is something that will be done.”
At the vigil, Grace’s mother said watching her daughter take her last breath “was the worst pain imaginable”.
It must be done.
It’s beyond a matter of time now.