LAST UPDATE | 30 mins ago

DOZENS OF PEOPLE this evening walked the route that 16-year-old Grace Lynch would have taken yesterday had she not been hit and killed by a scrambler bike.

The Finglas community has come together to remember the teenager and call for action on the irresponsible use of e-bikes and e-scooters, which they say is a pervasive issue, particularly among boys and young men.

The crowd at Plunkett Avenue, where Grace was to meet her boyfriend, included many teenagers who knew her.

Gary, one local parent, said most young people in the area know each other, even if they go to different schools.

On how he felt when he heard of the crash, Gary said: “I was shocked but I wasn’t surprised.”

He says he constantly sees young men and boys speeding on electric bikes and e-scooters, and they’re hard to identify as they’re all “wearing black jackets, hoodies and balaclavas”.

“All the parents around here give out about it all the time anyway. It’s not new, but it takes for some poor young girl to actually die at the hands of this nonsense for us to get out here and show a bit of support,” he said.

“She didn’t even get to finish school.”

Gary says the community doesn’t have faith that gardaí will be able to effectively tackle the issue.

“I know [gardaí] are not supposed to chase these people and cause more damage and hurt, so their hands are tied,” he said.

“It’ll come to vigilantes in this neighbourhood dragging young lads off bikes just to make a point. It could genuinely be a fella going to work.”

Catherine who lives nearby said dangerous driving on e-bike and e-scooter has become commonplace on the roads.

“We don’t even pay attention anymore, only to grab our grandkids out of the way.

“You’re walking out to the school there at two o’clock in the day and they are doing (wheelies).”

Catherine isn’t confident that this tragedy will change anything.

“It’s heartbreaking for that family. It’s shocking. I hate to say it but, another few months down the line, this is still going to be happening. Nothing’s changing,” she said.

That family has to deal with that young girl’s life just gone like that.

Another local, Lindsay, has daughters who know friends of Grace. She believes that parents who allow their children to drive e-scooters and e-bikes should be fined.

“They need to be accountable,” she said.

The arrangements for Grace’s funeral will be posted on Rip.ie shortly. Her mother has asked everyone attending to wear red.

A Gofundme page has also been established for people in the local community to support Grace’s family. 

It has raised over €6,000 already. 

Arrest

Grace was walking along the Ratoath Road in Finglas at around 2.20pm on her way to meet her boyfriend on Sunday when she was hit. 

She was taken to Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown to be treated for serious injuries, but died yesterday evening.

Gardaí have arrested a man in his late teens in connection with the crash. He is being held at a garda station in the Dublin region.

A garda spokesperson had earlier said that two teenagers had been travelling on the scrambler and were being treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

Fianna Fáil councillor for Ballymun-Finglas Keith Connolly has said there is “heartbreak” in the community following Grace’s death.

“We had a young girl on the way to meet her boyfriend on a Sunday afternoon who was so tragically killed by a scrambler,” he told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, offering condolences to her family and friends.

Connolly said scrambler bikes are an issue in the area and have been raised at every single safety forum he has attended for the last number of years, but that it is clear that not enough is being done to tackle the problem.

He said that changes in the law last year that allows gardaí to seize and detain quad and scrambler bikes from a property without a warrant if they believe they are being used in an anti-social way “is not enough”.