Irish government to impose total ban on scramblers in public places
Gabija Gataveckaite - Dublin correspondent, BBC News NI
Wed, February 4, 2026 at 1:30 PM UTC
2 min read
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The Irish government is planning to impose a total ban on scrambler bikes in public places.
The new rules come after 16-year-old Grace Lynch died after being hit by a scrambler in Finglas in Dublin last month.
The new law will be called Grace's Law, according to Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) Micheál Martin.
At a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday morning, senior Irish ministers gave the go ahead for a total ban on scramblers in public places.
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While laws around the use of scrambler bikes in public places are in place already, the Irish government hopes to bring "additional legal clarity" that scramblers are banned for use on roads in nearly all cases.
Under existing laws, mechanically propelled vehicles such as scramblers can only be legally driven on public roads if they are registered and have a registration plate.
The Irish government believes that because most scramblers are designed for off-road use only and are unregistered, they are therefore already illegal for use on the road.
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As scramblers are not registered, they cannot be taxed. Gardaí have powers to seize vehicles which are uninsured or have not been taxed or where the driver does not have the correct driving licence.
Gardai (Irish police) will also be given more powers when seizing scramblers to reduce the numbers that end up back on the roads.
The government is hoping to enact the new laws within weeks.
Regulations will also be changed so gardaí have more powers to seize scramblers and destroy them, instead of giving them back.
'We owe it to Grace Lynch'
The fresh clampdown is being brought forward by Transport Minister Darragh O'Brien as well as his junior ministers Sean Canney and Jerry Buttimer.
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"These new regulations will help to bring additional legal clarity to the existing position that scramblers are banned for use on the road in almost all cases," said O'Brien.
"We owe it to Grace Lynch, her family and her friends to introduce regulations to further restrict the inappropriate use of scramblers in public places as a matter of urgency."
The Irish government has previously put in place laws tightening the use of scrambler bikes.
Garda figures provided to RTÉ News recently showed 167 scramblers were seized last year.
BBC News NI reported last September that the PSNI received almost 10,000 reports involving scramblers across Northern Ireland over the last six years.