MEPs tell Brennan taxi scheme is 'derisory'

A delegation from the European Parliament has branded the Government's hardship scheme for taxi-drivers as "inadequate" and "derisory" and has called on the Minister for Transport to significantly increase the fund.

Representatives of the European Parliament's committee on petitions met Mr Brennan in Dublin yesterday on the initiative of widows and partners of the pre-deregulation taxi-drivers' group, FAIR.

The committee said it was taking the "unprecedented step" of sending a delegation to Ireland because of the seriousness of the FAIR case involving the hardship suffered by drivers' families since the deregulation of the taxi industry.

"The European Parliament is extremely concerned about this situation and we are very determined that Séamus Brennan realise the extreme urgency of the situation - that it needs to be dealt with now," the secretary of the committee, Mr David Lowe, said.

The committee told Mr Brennan it was particularly concerned that there had been no pay-outs from the €15 million hardship fund to date.

"The hardship panel made its report last year and still no money has been paid out.

"Dublin City Council alone has received €36 million in new licence fees since deregulation, while people endure this hardship," committee delegate and Labour MEP Mr Proinsias De Rossa said.

However, he said the meeting with Mr Brennan had been encouraging.

"The Minister gave us a commitment that he would fast-track the setting up of a payments mechanism and said he would give serious consideration to the case we made on the inadequacy of payments. He also said he would meet with FAIR."

A spokesman for Mr Brennan said the mechanism for processing hardship claims should be up and running within the next two months. "The Minister has made a commitment to spur that on."

However, he said, while Mr Brennan shared the committee's concerns about individual cases of hardship, he did not know if it was possible to increase the fund. "The Government is committed to accept the findings of the panel, which was independent of the Department."

The petitions committee intends to publish the full report on the FAIR case and make its recommendations to the Government by the end of this month.