E-scooter users would require a driving licence and insurance under proposals being explored by the Government, but it remains unclear if they will have to undertake training or testing specifically for the vehicles.
The measures are being considered as the Government prepares legislation requiring e-scooters to be registered as part of a crackdown following a wave of injuries, particularly among children.
On Wednesday, the Cabinet approved plans for regulations increasing the minimum age for e-scooter users from 16 to 18 and to make helmets and high-visibility clothing mandatory.
Under the regulations due to come into force by the end of August, fixed charge fines for breaching the rules on e-scooters will be increased from €50 to €100.
RM Block
There will also be a doubling of the fees for the release of detained e-scooters to €80 for the first day and €30 for each subsequent day.
At a press conference after the Cabinet meeting, Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien said the regulations are being brought in because of a “very worrying increase in the number of severe and serious accidents that particularly young people are experiencing”.
Seán Canney, the Minister of State at the Department of Transport, meanwhile urged parents to ensure children are not using e-scooters saying it is “very frightening to think that there are young children up in Temple Street [Hospital] at the moment on life support when they should be out enjoying this fine weather”.
The Ministers outlined plans to amend road traffic legislation in September that would include a requirement that e-scooters be registered as well as proposals for mandatory insurance and a requirement that e-scooter users hold a valid driving licence or learner’s permit.
O’Brien said work will be done on the proposed legislation over the summer and aspects of this, including the registration and insurance requirements, will be worked through with the Road Safety Authority (RSA).
On the possibility of requirements for e-scooter users to undertake specific training courses or testing, O’Brien said such issues will be “worked through” in advance of the legislation, which he suggested could be passed by the end of the year.
Canney confirmed that existing e-scooter owners would have to register their vehicles under the planned legislation.
On the prospect of parents being fined if their children are using e-scooters, Canney said that under the planned legislation the registered owner of the e-scooter would be held responsible.
“If I give my car to a 16-year-old, I am responsible for that. It will be the same way with an e-scooter,” he said.
Pressed on whether it would be parents paying the fine, he said: “Well, I don’t know who else is going to pay it, but I’ll tell you, I think it’s important that parents understand it’s not about paying a fine. It’s about saving lives. It’s about keeping people out of the hospitals.”
In a statement on Wednesday, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said: “Without an active enforcement plan from An Garda Síochána, further restrictions on e-scooter use will mean nothing in communities that have scramblers and e-scooters causing havoc every day of the week.”
The Ministers both defended enforcement levels when it comes to vehicles like e-scooters and scrambler bikes.
O’Brien said Grace’s Law banning the use of scramblers in public places was introduced in memory of Grace Lynch, who died after being hit by a scrambler as she used a pedestrian crossing in Finglas in January. He added that there has been “a significant increase in seizures of scramblers” with 96 confiscated in the first quarter of 2026, compared to a full-year figure last year “of around 156”.
He said a Garda drone unit was deployed in west Dublin last week as part of an effort to track scramblers.
Canney said 1,400 e-scooters were seized in the first six months of 2026 and there have been “almost 800 prosecutions issued in the same period”.
“People might think there’s no enforcement. Enforcement is happening,” he said.
The Cabinet also approved plans for reforms of the RSA, including expanding existing road safety programmes and consolidating the agency’s driver services.
There is to be a new Road Safety Ambassadors Programme, with Canney saying the RSA has been contacting people who may be willing to take on the roles.
He said he hoped the ambassadors will be in place before any pre-Christmas road safety campaign, saying suggestions for who they might be have been made and “we’re sussing that out now to see who exactly and what age groups they can focus in on”.
