FRESH FIGHT 

Tragic Grace Lynch’s parents to meet with Taoiseach over ‘get tough’ on scrambler ban call after daughter’s horror death

GRACE Lynch’s parents will meet Taoiseach Michael Martin this week as they call on the Government to “get tough” with laws banning scramblers from Irish roads.

Tragic Grace, 16, died after she was hit by a scrambler bike while crossing the road in her native Finglas, Dublin on January 25.

Following the horror tragedy, Grace’s grieving mum Siobhan and dad Martin have been waging a public crusade for a ban on scramblers in our parks and on our roads.

The Government was forced to bring in the legislation following public outcry after the death of Grace at the end of January.

Grace’s Law came into force last month – making the use of scramblers illegal on all our roads and public spaces.

But now Grace’s parents have urged the Government to take an extra step to ensure youngsters are deterred from using the dangerous bikes.

Grace’s mum Siobhan and dad Martin have been told that Taoiseach Micheal Martin will meet them on Friday to address the issue.

Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan has agreed to meet with the grieving parents next week.

Speaking to the Irish Mirror, dad Martin said: “Essentially we want them to follow up and get tough with this type of behaviour.

“We’ve been looking for a meeting with them since day one so it’s finally happening now and we might as well grab it with both hands.”

Mum Siobhan told the Mirror she hopes the Government can take seriously the issue of giving the gardai the power to properly pursue scramblers on our roads.

She said: “We want guards to have the reassurance that they can do their jobs without having to be punished.

“That’s what we want to see – that the guards go do their jobs with no repercussions.”

Grace’s mum also wants the Government to consider implementing laws to prevent parents from buying scramblers for their children.

She added: “We’re looking to see if they can do anything about age limits.

“A lot of these young fellas are underage and there’s no punishment for that. There should be some sort of punishment for those who are providing them with a scrambler.

“We do feel they are really starting to listen finally and it’s great that they’re willing to sit down with us.”

The all-out ban on scrambler bikes – named Grace’s Law – kicked in on Good Friday.

And the new rules lets gardai seize and destroy any of the bikes caught being used in a public space.

Officers will no longer have to establish that the bike was being driven dangerously in order to confiscate it.

Source: https://www.thesun.ie/news/16924188/grace-lynch-parents-taoiseach-scrambler-ban/