New regulations allowing the use of electric scooters in public place will come into effect on Monday after being signed by Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan and published yesterday.
It is still illegal to use them until then.
Here, the regulations and impact they will have on e-scooters are explained.
Will there be restrictions on who can use them?
Nobody under 16 years of age will be allowed to use an e-scooter in a public place.
Will all e-scooters be legal?
There will be restrictions on what type of scooter can be used.
The maximum design speed allowed will be 20km per hour and the maximum power output permitted will be 0.4Kwh.
The maximum weight will be 25kg and e-scooters more than two metres long or 1.5 metres high will not be allowed.
E-scooters will have to be fitted with front and rear lights and two independent braking systems so that if one fails the other will still work.
They will not be required to have indicators but if they do, they must be amber.
It will be illegal to have a seat on an e-Scooter and for more than one person to travel on an e-Scooter.
Will e-scooters be subject to the rules of the road?
The Road Safety Authority has said e-scooter users will have the same rights and obligations as cyclists.
This means they will have to respect traffic signals and signs and other road users will have to respect their safety.
As with cyclists, drivers are asked to stay at least a metre away when overtaking where the speed limit is 50km per hour or lower and at least 1.5 metres away in places where the speed limit is higher.
What has the reaction been to the new regulations?
RTÉ News spoke to a few e-Scooter users along the Grand Canal in Dublin and they were generally positive about the new rules.
E-scooter retailer Paul O'Brien of Loco Scooters welcomed the regulations, saying they remove uncertainty and allow the industry and users to plan for the future.
His company has ordered new own brand e-Scooters and he said they will comply with the new rules.
Mr O'Brien said older scooters could possibly be made compliant with software updates to limit their speed and power output to stay within regulations.
He is hopeful the new regime will see more people switch to e-scooters
Aisling Dunne, Head of Public Policy for Bolt Ireland, which operates several e-bike operating schemes, said her company would be able introduce e-scooters compliant with the new regulations.
E-scooter sharing schemes would require bye-laws from local authorities, but that could happen quickly with schemes in smaller towns coming into effect later this year and in Irish cities early next year.
An Garda Síochána Assistant Commissioner for Roads Policing Paula Hillman toid the Oireachtas Committee on Transport that gardaí will interested to see how e-scooter sharing schemes would work here.
She noted that in some other countries there are bans overnight on hiring so that people do not pick them up when they are coming out of licensed premises.
In some places the maximum speed of the e-scooter falls when it enters certain areas.
