Gardaí welcome Decathlon decision to stop selling e-scooters as road deaths reach 108 this year

The Garda has “welcomed” the decision by Decathlon to begin removing e-scooters from sale but held back from encouraging other retailers from doing the same.In advance of new rules governing the use of e-scooters, the retailer said on Tuesday that it would begin to curtail their sale at its Irish stores and online.An Garda Síochána said in a statement on Wednesday afternoon that 108 people have been killed on the State’s roads so far this year.Initially saying it was not the Garda’s place to comment on the decisions by retailers, Garda Assistant Commissioner Denis Ferry went on to “welcome” the decision by the retailer to stopping selling e-scooters.READ MORE“I do welcome the decisions that suppliers and stores have taken,” he said – declining to name individual stores – and noted that retailers recognise the “dangers and risks of using e-scooters”.Pointing to concerns from medical groups of the dangers of e-scooters, Ferry said that reducing the availability of such transport devices would reduce the risk to young people.[ Oscar-winning musician and actor Glen Hansard dies in Dublin motorbike crashOpens in new window ]Last week, Government leaders agreed on new proposals to increase the age of use to 18, and to require helmets and high-visibility jackets to be worn by users.New legislation expected to come into effect in September would treat e-scooters as “mechanically propelled vehicles” requiring licences and registration.The assistant commissioner said the force “will be in a place to enforce” any new legislative measures and that they are currently “actively enforcing” the existing legislation. He was speaking at the launch in Dublin of the Garda’s August bank holiday roads policing operation to crack down on driving offences and appeal to drivers to slow down.Figures from the Garda placed the number of deaths on Irish roads at 105 on Tuesday. This number was 13 higher than the same time in 2025, with last year seeing the highest number of deaths on Irish roads in a decade.Ferry said it was “regrettable” that three further people had died overnight.It was subsequently reported the Dublin musician Glen Hansard was killed in motorcycle crash in Lucan while a man in his 40s was died in a single-vehicle incident in Co Clare in the early hours of Wednesday morning.Ferry said the deaths “highlight the risk” on Irish roads, and that his thoughts are with the families affected by the recent deaths.The figures “enforce the point that everyone has a shared responsibility here”.Road Safety Authority (RSA) director Michael Rowland said he was particularly concerned about the concentration of deaths in high-speed roads – those above 80km/h – which account for 57 per cent of deaths.He said that young people between 16 and 25 years of age made up more than a quarter of all road deaths this year.Rowland said that two in five, or about 40 per cent, of all road deaths take place at the weekend, and urged drivers to give themselves enough time to get to their destinations safely this weekend.In the first half of the year, the Garda said they have arrested one driver every hour on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, more than 4,600 arrests. In the same period, gardaí have issued more than 119,000 speeding fines, 14,500 fines for using a mobile phone while driving, and more than 3,000 people have been fined for failing to wear a seat belt.More than 18,000 vehicles have been seized on grounds of having no insurance, no driving licence, having not passed roadworthiness checks or having been driven by an unaccompanied learner.