The use of e-scooters is at a “tipping point”, the Dáil heard on Thursday, after the publication of figures showing a significant increase in the number children suffering brain injuries after using the machines.The number of children and young people admitted to hospital with traumatic brain injuries following e-scooter incidents increased by 50 per cent year on year, according to data from Children’s Health Ireland (CHI). There were 1,130 attendances to emergency departments at CHI between January 2021 and last August due to e-scooter-related injuries.A dozen children were admitted to CHI at Temple Street under the neurosurgery team with traumatic brain injuries sustained in e-scooter crashes between June 2024 and May 2025.There was then a 50 per cent increase in admissions in the period from June 2025 to last May, with 18 children admitted. At least seven more have been admitted since then, CHI said.The issue was raised repeatedly in the chamber on Thursday, with Tánaiste Simon Harris telling Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald the situation was “at a tipping point where we need to move and move quickly”. Harris is due to meet senior Ministers to discuss options, including a potential ban on e-scooters, next week.Social Democrats TD Aidan Farrelly told Harris the current regulations governing the use of e-scooters were a “monumental failure” and that a scheme should be opened encouraging children and parents to trade them in for bikes.Harris said he had an open mind but that the current situation is “extraordinarily dangerous and needs to change”. [ E-scooters are being used for drug dealing and intimidation, Garda chief saysOpens in new window ]Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly on Tuesday said he agreed with calls for a ban on e-scooters, saying society would be “better off” without them.Under legislation that came into effect in May 2024, e-scooter users must be 16 or older and obey a speed limit of 20km/h.Before this law was introduced, CHI said only one child had been admitted to hospital with a brain injury due to an e-scooter crash. Almost 40 have been since.“This summer, across CHI emergency departments, it is estimated that one to two children with e-scooter-related injuries present each day,” CHI said in a statement.“This has significantly increased the workload of paediatric emergency medicine teams, both in terms of the volume of patients and the complexity of injuries being treated.”CHI said the injuries sustained by children range from major trauma cases to fractures, head and neck injuries, facial injuries, concussions and lacerations. Of the 30 children admitted to CHI with traumatic brain injuries related to e-scooter incidents between May 2024 and last month, all had evidence of bleeding within their skull or brain and 97 per cent sustained skull fractures.Almost all the children in question (97 per cent) were not wearing helmets at the time of the incident. Just over half (53 per cent) required emergency neurosurgery.Dr Irwin Gill, consultant paediatrician in neurodisability at CHI, said: “When we talk about the dangers of e-scooter injuries, the measure of harm cannot be limited to whether a child lives or dies. “Many of the children we care for spend a long time in hospital accessing surgical care, medical care and rehabilitation, and are left with life-changing brain injuries as a result of their e-scooter crashes that can result in permanent physical, sensory and cognitive disabilities.”Gill said children who sustain these injuries “may require lifelong rehabilitation and ongoing support from their families and the State, and which in some cases can never be fully undone”.He said preventing these injuries “must be a public health priority”.