E-scooters will be banned for under-18s under proposals agreed by Government leaders on Monday.
New proposals, including making hi-viz jackets and helmets mandatory for all e-scooter use and extending a ban to under-18s , will be brought to Cabinet next week and will come into effect from August.
Later this year, new legislation will be introduced to treat e-scooters like all other “mechanically propelled vehicles”, meaning they will require licenses and registration.
An outright ban will “remain on the table” but was not agreed to by Ministers on Monday, sources said.
Legislation planned for later this year will also prohibit the sale of scooters to minors and the sale of e-scooters that do not meet the legal requirements for use on public roads.
E-scooters are currently legal for over-16s at a maximum speed of 20km/h.
The move follows concerns about the number of children who have been hospitalised with traumatic injuries after e-scooter crashes.
Data from Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) says the number of children and young people admitted to hospital with traumatic brain injuries following e-scooter incidents increased by 50 per cent year on year.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Tánaiste Simon Harris, Minister of State for Transport Seán Canney and Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan met Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly in Government Buildings on Monday morning.
Kelly told the meeting that there had been a significant increase in Garda operations connected to e-scooters. He told Government leaders that 1,412 e-scooters have been seized so far this year and there have been 793 prosecutions for possession of e-scooters. The meeting also considered data from CHI and the HSE on a pattern of children suffering serious and life-changing injuries from e-scooters.
It was also agreed further protections will be provided to members of An Garda Síochána to mirror the system in the UK. This would grant greater legal protections to gardaí when pursuing e-scooters and e-bikes.
Speaking to journalists outside Government Buildings, the Taoiseach said the meeting had heard a presentation from the Garda Commissioner, who stressed that enforcement on e-scooters was already happening and there had been “a lot of seizures both last year and an increasing amount this year for those breaking the law”.
He said there was also a preliminary report from CHI that was “very, very serious in terms of the number of young people and children in particular who have been injured, traumatic brain injury”. He said that more than a third of all presentations for brain inquiries to children’s hospitals were due to e-scooter incidents.
He said Cabinet would consider the proposals to restrict e-scooters to over-18s when it met next week, followed by legislation in the autumn that will designate e-scooters as mechanically propelled vehicles, meaning they would require licensing and registration. A full ban would be kept on the table, he said.
“It’s crazy that young people under 18 should be using e-scooters,” he said.
He said that when a scooter is seized, the penalties would be much higher to get it returned. He also promised new laws to protect gardaí who are pursuing e-scooters.
Last week, both the Taoiseach and Kelly indicated they would support a ban on e-scooters.
Martin said he was “leaning towards” a total ban on e-scooters as the Dáil discussed the issue following incidents resulting in deaths and serious injuries.
Meanwhile, Kelly told a meeting of the Oireachtas justice committee that he agreed with calls for a ban on e-scooters, saying society would be “better off” without them.
There were 1,130 attendances to emergency departments at CHI between January 2021 and last August due to e-scooter-related injuries.
A dozen children were admitted to CHI at Temple Street under the neurosurgery team with traumatic brain injuries sustained in e-scooter crashes between June 2024 and May 2025.
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There was then a 50 per cent increase in admissions in the period from June 2025 to last May, with 18 children admitted. At least seven more have been admitted since then, CHI said.
On Monday morning, Canney said he has been given an “options paper” from officials that includes a number of proposals on what the Government could do about e-scooters, including an outright ban.
Canney told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland that he wanted the Government to give “clarity” to both gardaí and those using e-scooters.
He declined to say whether he would favour a ban and said he would rather wait to consider the issue at the meeting – where a report from the Department of Health would be shared on the kinds of injuries children had suffered while using e-scooters.
“I think that’s also very important – when you’re making a decision on what road to pursue on this, that we have all the facts in front of us so that we can make the best decision possible for safety on our roads,” he said.