A ban on electric scooters will be considered by the Government as part of efforts to tackle the dangerous use of the machines, according to Minister of State Seán Canney, who said he had “a serious problem with children getting injured unnecessarily” on the roads. A teenager died late last month after falling from an e-scooter in Co Carlow, and it emerged earlier this month that six children were on life support in Dublin’s Temple Street Hospital after being injured while using them. Canney, Minister of State at the Department of Transport, has previously said all options need to be on the table to clamp down on dangerous e-scooter use, and this weekend he explicitly said this could include a ban. “I’ve a serious problem with children getting injured unnecessarily on the road and people worried to be going walking on the footpaths,” he told The Irish Times. He said work is underway in his department on options to reform the laws around e-scooters.“I am looking at the options, what we might be able to do, and what we can do that would be effective and make a difference,” he said. Seán Canney. Photograph: Brian Lawless/PA Wire “There’s no option that’s not on the table right now and that would include looking at what is being done in other places in Europe, including banning them.”It is illegal in the UK to ride a privately-owned electric scooter in public, including on pavements, roads or in bike lanes, but they can be rented through official government approved schemes in certain parts of the country. Users must have a full or provisional driving licence to use them. There are also restrictions on e-scooter use in the Netherlands. While the dangers associated with e-scooter use have been prominent recently, advocates for their use say they help with urban mobility and reduce emissions when used appropriately. Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman said rather than an absolute ban “the Government’s focus should be on ensuring kids under 16 don’t have access to e-scooters, that the maximum 20km/h speed for e-scooters is enforced and that e-scooters aren’t being used on footpaths”.A HSE public health report on injuries related to e-scooter use in children and young people is being prepared and is due to be completed before the end of the month. [ Parents should be fined for pre-teen misuse of e-scooters, says Aontú leader Peadar TóibínOpens in new window ]In a recent letter to The Irish Times, a group of six consultants at Children’s Health Ireland outlined that e-scooter crashes had increased by 50 per cent compared to the previous 12 months and were accounting for more than one-third of traumatic brain injury admissions to Temple Street.They said e-scooters cause injuries which can be life changing and that a response focused on increasing awareness and enforcement of existing regulations was insufficient. They recommended that additional measures, including mandatory licensing and insurance and the consideration of an outright ban, be considered.