Speaking at the January Plenary meeting for Waterford City and County Council, Fianna Fáil Councillor, Eamon Quinlan brought up the issue of e-scooters and called for Waterford Council to be pro-active in creating their own bye-laws, rather than waiting for national legislation to dictate the county’s rules.
“I want to raise the issue of e-scooters, given the recent surge in accidents, tragedies and general usage of e-scooters, now that they have been legalised since 2024, I would like the council to look at drafting bye-laws in relation to e-scooters.
“We obviously have various powers under various road traffic Acts to create bye-laws, while most bye-laws in relation to speed are done at a national level there is ambiguity. I checked this with various people in the Law Society of Ireland.
…Where the Council can’t put in a 2 metre footpath and 2 metre cycle lane, we create shared surfaces. Both pedestrians and cyclists can use them. E-scooters are banned from footpaths but are allowed in cycle lanes so which is it now? The national legislation is silent on this because they didn’t foresee what the Councils were doing.
“We have the power to create our own bye-laws and we should in order to close up these gaps and make things safer. Even if our Council officials are unsure as to what extent we can create bye-laws on e-scooters, then I request we take up a legal opinion to assess our scope in this regard
In response to this, Director of Services for Transport, Gabriel Hynes, cited the regulations surrounding the use of e-scooters, and said that the enforcement of these regulations is a matter for the Gardaí.
“We have agreed with the RSA and the Gardaí to have an awareness day in January, so that’s being arranged at the moment. At present I don’t see a need for special bye-laws for e-scooters but I will discuss it further with the RSA and the Gardaí.”
Clearly unhappy with this response, Cllr. Quinlan, said he specifically asked about the shared spaces, where pedestrians and e-scooter users can lawfully use the same road area.
Commenting after the meeting, Councillor Quinlan said,
“Obviously, I am disappointed that regulating e-scooters is not something the Council Executive wishes to play a part in. We do have a Transport Strategic Policy Committee so the option is still there for this to happen if the political willpower pushes it. One thing that seems clear, is that Councils have the power to designate areas where e-scooter usage is banned. This obviously gives us scope to clean up some of these grey areas that have become obvious since the national legislation came into effect.
“I cannot stress this enough, shared surfaces and wide footpaths look exactly the same. As such, you are encouraging e-scooter use on footpaths and it can just be claimed that the user thought it was a shared surface.
“The Council’s actions here could blow a hole in one of the main pillars underpinning safety in the laws relating to E-Scooters. We should give certain areas such as nursing homes, schools etc the ability to request restrictions in spaces around them if they are having safety concerns.”
“Currently, e-scooter users must be 16 yrs of age or over,” continued Cllr. Quinlan, “stay off footpaths, only carry one individual, travel not over 20km’s but crucially don’t have to have insurance.
“This is leading to people suffering injuries and having limited recourse. There has already been a steady outcry for the Government to re-look at this issue and legislate to close gaps in the reality of E-Scooter usage. In this regard, using the resources of Local Authorities could be a quick way to flush out such changes quickly.”
AARON KENT
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme
