The Minister for Justice has said he would like to see legislation passed to give gardaí greater protection when pursuing e-scooters.

Jim O’Callaghan was speaking following an informal meeting of EU justice and home affairs ministers in Dublin yesterday.

Asked whether the gardaí could be granted greater legal protections when pursuing e-scooters and e-bikes, he said: ‘I would like to see that type of legislation progressed.’

He said he had spoken to Transport ministers Darragh O’Brien and Seán Canney, and said, in the UK, police constables have ‘specific statutory protections’ for when they are ‘in pursuit of somebody’ while they are working.

‘I would like to see something like that within the Irish legal system,’ he added.

On Tuesday, Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly told an Oireachtas committee that pursuit training is limited to ‘very specialist units’.

He said there are plans to train more officers, but resourcing problems caused by our EU Presidency mean this will not happen until next year.

He said he was ‘really concerned’ about gardaí ‘on the front line’, adding there are ten before the courts for alleged dangerous driving or careless driving incidents which happened while they were on duty.

On a total ban, Mr O’Callaghan said: ‘I’m not going to pre-empt any discussion that’s going to take place on Monday,’ referring to the meeting on the issue among Government leaders.