Following a meeting this morning between Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Tánaiste Simon Harris, Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan, Minister of State for Transport Seán Canney and Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly, decisions were made which will impact the usage of electric scooter in Ireland. This follows recent reports that in 2026, more than one in three children admitted to CHI at Temple Street with a traumatic brain injury had been involved in an e-scooter accident. These admissions have jumped 50% in the last year.
But what exactly does this mean for electric scooter owners? Honestly, for those following the rules already – not much as, for now, an outright ban is not being sought. However, Micheál Martin did say it would remain a possibility.
New electric scooter age limits
In 2024, Ireland produced the first electric scooter laws in The State. These laws stated that to ride a compliant electric scooter in a public place, you must be at least 16 years old. The Government today has stated that this age will now increase to 18 years of age. Given the age profile of those so heavily impacted, this makes sense although when juxtaposed with the fact 16 year olds can drive tractors on public roads, with only a theory test as training with a provisional license, it’s a bit wild.
Regardless, this new rule is largely logical, so no complaints from me.
Electric scooter riders must wear hi-vis and helmet
Emerging today was also the requirement for electric scooter riders to wear a helmet and hi-vis jackets. I largely disagree with hi-vis in these conversations because it generally amounts to a route towards victim blaming in Ireland. If you’re not wearing a hi-vis, it’s one of the first things said when a motorist doesn’t see you. However, I think there is a secondary reason for this recommendation. If you ride an electric scooter and wear hi-vis, you are broadcasting to the world that you are seeking to be compliant. Not wearing a hi-vis should be a nice big red flag to Gardaí.
For helmets, I’ve been on a journey with these. I wouldn’t dream of mounting my scooter without a helmet, but I’ve never believed they should be mandatory. But I guess it was obvious that we would end up here given the statistics that were emerging. I can understand and support mandatory helmets, but this does open a new can of worms.
What helmets are considered sufficiently rated for electric scooters? What defines a helmet? I get a bad feeling that this won’t be sufficiently defined and could lead to more debate down the line.
Licensing and registration to come
Later this year, legislation will be introduced to define e-scooters more strictly as mechanically propelled vehicles and there will be a requirement for licensing and registration. Exact details are a long way away for now on what all of this means, but the hope is that a scooter, when sold, gets tied to an individual. Speaking to RTÉ, Minister of State for Transport Seán Canney said right now there is no process for documenting electric scooter sales and that current rules are hard to enforce “when you don’t know who bought the e-scooter, you don’t know where it was bought, and you don’t know what it is being used for”.
Targeting retailers
An issue I flagged years ago was that retailers were selling electric scooters that were initially not legal to use in Ireland at all, or today that are far too powerful for legal use on roads. This was due to the loophole that they could be purchased for use on private property. But whether or not they would be, well noone really cared or checked.
Under these new attempts to wrangle control over electric scooters, it will be illegal to sell scooters to minors and also the sale of scooters that do not meet the legal requirements for use on public roads. Whether or not amendments to specs will happen remains unknown, but this means electric scooters can only be sold if they are limited to 20kmph, weigh less than 25kg and have a motor rated no higher than 400 watts.
I’m going to start reaching out to some people in Government and have contacted the Garda Press Office too to ask for more details on this along with what plans are being made for enforcement. Simply, all of these ideas are somewhat sound and understandable. But they will achieve absolutely nothing unless Gardaí are given more freedom and tools to police electrics scooters and made these rules more than just ink on paper.
If you want ro read more about what I think on electric scooter bans, you can check this out.
