Taxi regulator has 'lost control;

THE TAXI regulator is "turning a blind eye" to the thousands of illegal taxis plying for hire throughout the State, the president of the National Taxi Drivers Union (NTDU), Tommy Gorman, has said.

The regulator, Kathleen Doyle, has "totally lost control of the industry" Mr Gorman told an Oireachtas transport committee yesterday. "I have never seen the taxi profession in such an appalling state. It is now on its knees."

There were insufficient numbers of enforcement officers to catch drivers operating without licences, he said and he called for a moratorium on the issuing of new licences to the industry.

Ms Doyle told the committee that 33 per cent of the prosecutions it took against drivers in 2008 were in relation to operating without a licence, but in the majority of cases this was because the licence had lapsed rather than people never having had a licence or having had a fraudulent licence.

She said she did not have the power to introduce a moratorium or cap on taxi numbers. "I do not have the power to introduce any quantity restrictions on an industry which has been operating in a liberalised market since 2000... Any changes in that regard would be a matter for the Minister for Transport."

The chairman of the committee, Fianna Fáil TD Frank Fahey, said he accepted Ms Doyle did not have the power to introduce a moratorium, but he asked did she not think there were now too many taxis on the roads. "Do you have any concern for the people, the drivers, the people involved in the taxi industry?... Do you really believe you are going to be able to continue on as you are?"

Ms Doyle reiterated that she had no power to restrict taxi numbers, but she did accept some drivers found it harder to make a living.