{"id":265682,"date":"2026-01-27T01:56:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T01:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/265682\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T01:56:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T01:56:08","slug":"over-1000-take-part-in-walk-for-teen-killed-in-finglas-scrambler-incident-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/265682\/","title":{"rendered":"Over 1,000 take part in walk for teen killed in Finglas scrambler incident \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The mother of a teenager who died<\/a> after a crash in north Dublin<\/a> has pledged to \u201cfight\u201d to get scrambler bikes and e-scooters off the streets. <\/p>\n

Grace Lynch died after an incident on the Ratoath Road in Finglas on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n

More than 1,000 people gathered on Monday evening to retrace a route walked by Grace on the day she died.<\/p>\n

Grace\u2019s mother, Siobh\u00e1n Lynch, held a sign with a picture of her daughter with the words \u201cjustice for Grace\u201d as she led the walk from Valley Park estate to Plunkett Green.<\/p>\n

\"SiobhánSiobh\u00e1n Lynch holds a picture of her daughter Grace, who died in a crash involving a scrambler bike in Finglas. Photograph: Colin Keegan\/Collins <\/p>\n

\u201cJustice for Grace, justice for my daughter,\u201d Ms Lynch said as she walked the route.<\/p>\n

\u201cJustice for Grace, get the scramblers off the streets.\u201d<\/p>\n

At Plunkett Green, the crowd of friends, neighbours and locals sang Grace and released pink balloons into the air.<\/p>\n

Ms Lynch thanked people for coming out on the walk, and said: \u201cI will fight to get these scramblers and scooters and everything off these streets.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said watching her daughter \u201ctake her last breath was the worst pain imaginable\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not something that any parent should have to deal with,\u201d she said as she pledged to launch a campaign.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018Nobody is listening to us\u2019: Upset and anger in Finglas following death of Grace Lynch (16)Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Sinn F\u00e9in leader Mary Lou McDonald<\/a> said scramblers \u201care a scourge on our communities\u201d that needed to be tackled.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople have a right to be safe and secure on their streets and in public spaces,\u201d she said on X.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need stronger laws and we need them enforced including more vehicles, drones and training for the garda\u00ed to take on this scourge before another life is lost.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two teenagers on the bike, an adult male and a male juvenile, were treated for \u201cnon life-threatening\u201d injuries after the incident on Sunday.<\/p>\n

A man in his late teens was arrested on Sunday evening.<\/p>\n

\"PinkPink balloons are released in Finglas in memory of Grace Lynch. Photograph: Gr\u00e1inne N\u00ed Aodha\/PA Wire <\/p>\n

Despite numerous calls for action on scrambler bikes and electric scooters, there was little optimism on Monday that anything would be done to curtail them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey need a big clampdown on these bikes,\u201d said Ann, a woman in her 60s. \u201cIt\u2019s gone beyond a joke now. What happened to that young girl, it broke everyone\u2019s heart in Finglas. A young girl, her life taken for what? Nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Derek Murphy, a local man in his 50s, said he was \u201csick of bikes and scooters flying up and down\u201d.<\/p>\n

Catherine Crosby, a community activist, said she felt \u201cpure shock\u201d when she heard of the fatal incident. <\/p>\n

\"GraceGrace Lynch. Photograph: rip.ie <\/p>\n

\u201cEvery day you see them flying up and down, scooters, scramblers. [The drivers] have scarves up around their faces \u2013 you can\u2019t even see who they are. It\u2019s scary and there\u2019s nothing been done about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if she thought the death of Grace on Sunday would encourage young scrambler drivers to moderate their speed, she said: \u201cNo. I am sorry to say it. But no. Somebody needs to step up and take these damn scooters and scramblers off these kids. The parents need to step up.\u201d<\/p>\n

John, a local man in his 60s who did not want to give his surname, said scrambler bikes and e-scooters were \u201call up and down [the roads] all day, every day\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just Finglas, it\u2019s all working-class areas and the politicians just give it all that, all mouth and do nothing about it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey should definitely be banned. If they are not being used in field or track then just ban them.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said there should be a scrambler track for young people to use them safely, and help remove the vehicles from the roads.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Garda\u00ed not allowed use drones to track scrambler bikes \u2018terrorising communities\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is plenty of room around here to use to build one. Why hasn\u2019t there been something like that built in Dunsink? It would take some of them off the roads. There has to be some sort of action. There has to be, but I don\u2019t have much faith. Places like Finglas don\u2019t get a look-in.\u201d <\/p>\n

Local councillor Conor Reddy said the incident was \u201ctragic\u201d, and said his thoughts were with Grace\u2019s family and friends.<\/p>\n

\u201cScramblers have been an issue as long as I can remember in Finglas [and in] many other working-class communities,\u201d he said on X.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuccessive Fianna F\u00e1il<\/a>\/Fine Gael<\/a> governments have done nothing to meaningfully reduce danger or to improve outcomes for anybody.\u201d \u2013 Additional reporting PA <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The mother of a teenager who died after a crash in north Dublin has pledged to \u201cfight\u201d to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":265683,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[130808,42,43,130809,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-265682","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-grace-lynch","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-scramblers","12":"tag-top-news","13":"tag-top-stories","14":"tag-topnews","15":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265682\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}