THE GOVERNMENT HAS agreed to ban e-scooters for under-18s from next month, delaying a decision on an outright ban for now.

It comes after a high-level meeting this morning on this issue between senior government leaders and the Garda Commissioner.

Ahead of the meeting, Taoiseach Micheál Martin had suggested he was open to an outright ban on the use of e-scooters following a sharp rise in the number of accidents related to their use. 

Rather than a full ban, a range of measures were agreed today in an effort to improve road safety.

Among them are plans for helmets and high-vis vests to be made mandatory from next month.

Later this year, legislation will be introduced to treat e-scooters like all other mechanically propelled vehicles, and licensing and registration will be introduced.

The legislation will also prohibit the sale of scooters to minors and the sale of scooters that do not meet the legal requirements for use on public roads.

An outright ban remains on the table as a possible future measure, the Taoiseach said.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, the Taoiseach said higher penalties will also be introduced for people seeking to get a seized e-scooter back.

“What’s also increasingly clear from the Garda Commissioner is that e-scooters are being used significantly in drug dealing, money laundering, and for criminal enterprises. So we want to make it very clear that if an e-scooter is seized, that the penalties will be much higher to get that e-scooter back, and so there’ll be a range of measures on that front as well,” he said. 

It was also agreed at today’s meeting that further protections will be given to members of An Garda Síochána to mirror the system in the UK, granting greater legal protections to gardaí when pursuing e-scooters and e-bikes.

Currently, the use of e-scooters is banned for anyone under the age of 16. The proposal to raise the ban to include all those under the age of 18 will be brought to Government next week by the Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien.

The decision comes after data from Children’s Health Ireland and the HSE indicated a concerning pattern of serious and life changing injuries caused by e-scooters.

More than one third of all paediatric traumatic brain injury admissions to CHI at Temple Street in 2026 were related to e-scooters.

Admissions for traumatic brain injuries from e-scooter accidents increased by 50% in the last 12 months.