The Irish government’s decision to introduce a mandatory helmet and hi-vis law for e-scooter users has sparked concerns from active travel campaigners that “nanny state” interventions may only serve to discourage active travel, amid growing calls for a crackdown on high-powered, illegal e-bikes.
This week, the Irish government signed off on new regulations which will raise the legal age for riding an e-scooter from 16 to 18 next month, while making it a legal requirement for e-scooter users to wear helmets and hi-vis clothing.
Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, transport minister Darragh O’Brien told parents that they “should not be buying these e-scooters for kids right now”, following “a concerning pattern of serious and life-changing injuries” caused by the vehicles.
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According to health minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, 64 per cent of paediatric head injuries treated in Irish hospitals are a result of crashes involving e-scooters, while 93 per cent of children involved in those incidents were not wearing helmets.
Meanwhile, Sean Canney, the minister for road safety, announced that legislation will be drafted later this year to introduce a licence and registration requirement for e-scooters, and that the government will look into proposals to introduce mandatory insurance for the increasingly popular mode of transport.
Canney said his department will work with the Road Safety Authority to ensure such requirements do not make it “overly burdensome” for people who use e-scooters appropriately.
The new e-scooter legislation, which will effectively reclassify the vehicles as mopeds, has been enacted in the wake of a confusing few months for the Irish government and its stance on active travel.
Back in February, the Department for Transport was forced into an abrupt legislative U-turn after it announced that plans to introduce mandatory helmet and hi-vis rules would also include bicycles of all kinds, even those without a motor – only for that official government announcement to be almost immediately contradicted by Tánaiste Simon Harris.
According to the government’s initial statement, the proposals, though focused on e-scooter and e-bike users, would also see cyclists not wearing protective gear or reflecting clothing fined by the police – making Ireland the only EU member state to implement such a measure.
“Requirements for mandatory helmets and high-visibility equipment are currently being considered for e-scooters, bicycles, and e-bikes,” the department said at the time, when asked about the scope of the proposals first revealed in January, seemingly in a bid to tackle concerns about the growing number of collisions involving e-scooter users.
However, speaking in the Dáil, Harris, Ireland’s deputy prime minister, insisted that there were “no plans” to change the law to make helmets mandatory for cyclists riding non-motorised bikes, contradicting the message sent out by one of his government departments just hours beforehand.
Things took another twist last week, when road safety minister Canney appeared to resurrect the suggestion that the crackdown on e-scooters could also potentially apply to those riding e-bikes, as well as non-motorised bikes.
“We will look and see how we will progress with scooters, what effect it will have. If it’s a benefit, then of course we will look at helmets and hi-vis on cyclists as well,” he said.
Canney’s comments were criticised by the president of Cycling Ireland, and former government minister, Ciarán Cannon, who responded to the minister’s suggestion by arguing that “presenting mandatory helmets and hi-vis as a serious road safety intervention is misleading”.
“It is performative policy-making that diverts attention from real risks and risks making our streets less safe, not more,” he said.
“The greatest danger to people cycling or using scooters does not come from their clothing or headwear. It comes from motor traffic speed, volume and road design. Helmets do not prevent collisions. High-visibility clothing does not slow vehicles, fix junctions, or address dangerous overtaking.
“Fewer people cycling or scooting does not make roads safer. It makes them more car-dominated, and more dangerous overall.”
Cannon’s position was echoed in letters to the government, published this week through a Freedom of Information request submitted by the Irish Independent.
According to the records obtained by the newspaper, 124 items of correspondence and parliamentary questions concerning e-scooters, e-bikes, and scramblers were submitted in the first three months of this year, compared to just 14 on the same subjects during the entirety of 2025.
One letter claimed that high-powered electric ‘e-bikes’ were “essentially motorbikes” in disguise, with many being used without lights, helmets, or any hi-vis clothing.
Another member of the public claimed that youths riding modified fat-wheeled electric bikes were causing “havoc and accidents” in a local park, while one Cork resident said delivery riders on e-bikes were “ignoring the rules” by constantly riding on pavements.
However, some claimed a widespread “safety crackdown” on e-scooters, e-bikes, and cycling in general would only discourage active travel.
“International evidence shows such mandates reduce uptake of active and shared transport, pushing trips back into cars and directly undermining Vision Zero, public health and climate goals,” one letter-writer said, while another told the government their plans represented “a complete overreach and pure nanny-state behaviour”.
1 thought on ““Nanny state” hi-vis and helmet laws will discourage active travel, campaigners warn as Irish government signs off on new e-scooter rules amid claims illegal e-bikes causing “havoc””
They should concentrate on the road users who do most of the killing and injuring: car drivers.