Sinn Féin TD for Dublin South West Seán Crowe raised issues such as scramblers and drug intimidation directly with Garda Commissioner Drew Harris at a meeting of the local Joint Policing Committee in County Hall this morning.

Teachta Crowe also asked that parents not buy scramblers for their children this Christmas due to the dangers they pose in built-up areas to both users and the general public.

Speaking after the JPC meeting, Teachta Crowe said:

“I had the opportunity to put questions directly to Garda Commissioner Drew Harris at a meeting of the local Joint Policing Committee in County Hall this morning. I spoke to him on issues such as the misuse of scramblers and the rampant levels of drug intimidation that we are seeing locally.

“The Commissioner was able to give me a number of figures on the number of seizures of both drugs and scramblers since the new year, but what he couldn’t tell me was the level of impact this is having in the local community. There are still plenty of scrambler bikes tearing through our communities, usually in pairs. There was a pair that went past my local shops at midday and where one of them was doing a wheely in front of oncoming traffic.

“There is also the ever-present problem of drug intimidation that goes on outside our shops and supermarkets. While the Commissioner talked about youth diversion programmes, which I welcome as a means of preventing crime from worsening in the future, we need to know what gardaí will actually do in our community today.

“I would also appeal to parents not to buy scramblers for their children this Christmas. They pose enormous risks in built-up areas to both users and the general public. They’re not toys, but machines better suited to farmwork than tearing through and menacing our estates.”