Crime gangs using e-scooters for drug dealing & debt intimidation, top Garda reveals as he backs all-out ban on vehicles

CRIME gangs are using e-scooters for drug dealing and drug debt intimidation, Commissioner Justin Kelly has revealed as he calls for the vehicles to be banned.

The Government is actively considering an all-out ban on e-scooters with Coalition leaders due to meet next week to discuss a range of options on how to crack down on these popular vehicles.

Minister of State in the Department of Transport Sean Canney today admitted that “all options are on the table” and he is “seriously considering” a total ban.

Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly has thrown his weight behind the proposal for an all-out ban as he told the Oireachtas Transport Committee that he “absolutely” supports a ban.

The Commissioner said that he sees “real difficulties” in enforcing other  proposals to tackle scooters. 

He said enforcing a licensing and registration scheme for e-scooters would present real problems because thousands are already in the country. 

He also warned that proposals to make it mandatory for people to wear helmets will be “ignored” by gangs who are wearing balaclavas and using them for crime.

The Commissioner said more than 1,800 e-scooters and scramblers have been confiscated so far this year.

The number of children under the age of 16 who are being prosecuted for e-scooter crime has multiplied in recent years from 14 cases in 2024 up to 79 in the first half of this year alone.

However, Ireland‘s top cop said gardai are finding it increasingly difficult to catch gangs on e-scooters who are using them to deal drugs.

He said: “I certainly see a lot of things that are really concerning around e-scooters. Drug dealing without a doubt they are being used particularly in our urban centres to facilitate localised drug dealing in our communities.

“If anyone has observed, particularly here in Dublin, they can see it. We try and prevent that but they are really difficult for us to deal with particularly around parks, laneways and places like this.

“It is very easy for them to evade An Garda Siochana.

“Drug dealing and drug related intimidation which is an absolute scourge on some of our communities and really horrendous behaviour towards parents and relatives of people who are in debt – we’ve seen e-scooters regularly used for that.

“We have a number of cases where people have called to people’s houses and used them to make their escape quickly.”

The Commissioner revealed that two gardai have been injured in recent weeks while trying to apprehend suspected drug dealers on e-scooters.

One of these gardai was seriously injured.

Asked about toy shops selling e-scooters marketed towards children, the Commissioner told the Transport Committee that there are weaknesses in the law around this area.

He said that gardai have engaged with some retailers about selling e-scooters to children but the sellers claim they are selling to adults who give the vehicles to their children.

Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman asked the Commissioner about people who are using e-scooters responsibly with high visibility clothing and helmets. 

However, the Commissioner said that safe use of e-scooters by drivers is “the exception to the norm” as he claimed there is widespread breaches in the law by drivers who usually would be law abiding citizens.

Following the all-out ban on scramblers being used on public roads, gardai have come in for criticism for not pursuing people using scramblers.

Commissioner Kelly said that a team of gardai have been sent to Cornwall in the UK to take part in a top of the range pursuit driving course.

These garda trainers will then train regular gardai in how to pursue scramblers when huge security operation for the EU Presidency ends next year and gardai have less demands on their time.