Halt of e-scooter sales by some retailers b welcomed

Speaking on RTÉ’s Brendan O’Connor with Claire Brock, he said a total ban would be an “overreach” adding that it would be an admission by politicians that they are not “able to manage” their own regulations.

He said it would be a disservice to the people who are “using e-scooters correctly to beat congestion, to fill in for public transport, to get to work when they need to.

“I think 4% of commuters are using e-scooters as part of their journey, so are you are just punishing them because you’re basically failing to control anti-social use of e-scooters or dangerous use of e-scooters,” Mr Coghlan said.

He believes there are a number of steps that could be taken to further regulate e-scooters.

“Instead of going for an all-out ban, you can require licensing and registration and insurance, and you could move it from (age) 16 to 18,” he said.

“You could give the guards the right to stop people to check that they have those things and you could just enforce rules,” he said.

“Like cigarettes, you could ban the sale to under-18s, you could even make parents responsible for making sure that their children don’t have them.”

Mr Coghlan said he believed a temporary ban could be a solution for now.

“Let’s try proper regulation, stricter regulation with all the rules that should be there like motorbikes, and if that doesn’t work in two years’ time, well then let’s revisit it,” he said.