Cllr. Charlie O’Connor has said residents in the greater Kingswood Heights area and other parts of Tallaght are terrified of the ongoing misuse of scrambler and quad bikes in their locality and need legislative support to deal with the dangers associated with their use.
The local South Dublin County Councillor raised the issue with the council’s Chief Executive recently who confirmed that the Minister for Justice, Charlie Flanagan has sought advice from the Office of the Attorney General on proceeding with legislative change to regulate scrambler use. Cllr O’Connor said, “The continuous problems linked to the misuse of scramblers and quads in the Tallaght region including Kingswood Heights are leaving residents fearful of their safety as they try to go about their daily lives. Those that insist on using these types of vehicles in housing estates and on public land have entire communities held at ransom.
“Kingswood Heights Residents Association has been highlighting the improper and dangerous use of scramblers and quads for months and despite their calls for support in dealing with the issue, it’s continued to worsen. “Public realm works can only possibly go some way towards the attempts to combat the problem of scramblers and quads accessing parks and estates. As more and more areas become affected, the cost of fulfilling these works will be in excess of the Council’s own budget.
“Boundary treatments can’t fully deter those that are adamant to risk driving them unsupervised, unregulated and as the danger to so many others. Imposing changes to existing legislation is the only real, meaningful way of combating this growing issue. “These off-road vehicles are not toys and in fact injured 62 people last year. Residents in the area are deeply concerned that it will take a serious incident to occur and cause devastating injury or fatality before there’s action. The Minister has a responsibility to ensure that’s not the case,” he concluded.
