No exemption for children ahead of new push by Garda to target cyclists using footpaths and breaching other road traffic rules.
Minister for Transport Paschal Donohoe has said he has no plans to exempt children from laws that prohibit cycling on footpaths.
While a blind eye has often been turned by the Garda, the Government is drawing up a new system of €50 on the spot fines for cyclists based on the motoring penalty points system.
And while a range of new offences will be introduced to target cyclists under the new system, the Government has said existing offences will be enforced first and that one of those will be cycling on footpaths.
The plans, revealed last month, gave rise to concerns that children who cycled on footpaths for safety reasons, especially when going to and from school, would be unfairly targeted or forced onto the road.
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When asked in the Dáil if he planned to allow exemptions to the road traffic laws to very young cyclists or the visual impaired people, Mr Donohoe said he had no such plans.
“I do not believe that a change in the law to allow some cyclists to use footpaths is an appropriate response,” he said.
Minister Donohoe, second from the right, said he did not think making exemptions that would allow some people cycle on footpaths while others were banned was a good idea.
“This would take some cyclists off the road, but at the price of creating more risk for pedestrians.
“It would also be difficult to enforce a situation in which some cyclists were allowed on footpaths and others not.
“I have therefore no plans to amend the legislation on usage of footpaths at this time.”
Mr Donohoe was commenting on the existing Roads Act of 1993 rather than the planned new system of on the spot fines and new offences to target cyclists.
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However, it is the provisions of the 1993 Act that will be enforced first under the new system.
That new enforcement regime targeting cyclists will mirror the fixed charge notice scheme introduced for drivers.
Like the drivers’ system, a small number of offences will be included in the new policy to target cyclists at first but more will be added, including newly created offences.
Cyclists who don't pay their fines under the new system will end up before the courts.
Cyclists found breaking the laws will be subjected to a €50 fine when stopped by gardai.
Like the system for motorists, they will be informed via a notice in the post how much the fine is and when it is due.
They will have 56 days to pay and if the fine is not cleared another notice will be issued summoning them to court.
A spokesman for the Department of Transport said the existing fixed charge notice system used to inform motorists of infringements and to pursue them will be modified to handle the logistics of the new system for cyclists.
However, because cyclists do not need a licence, they cannot incur penalty points.
They will only be sanctioned by a fine and a criminal conviction if the case proceeds to conclusion in court.
The new system is to be in place as early as March.
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