A three-person panel will be appointed to examine claims of extreme financial hardship which may have been experienced by individual taxi licence holders following deregulation.
The independent panel will have 2 months to take submissions and will then report to the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment and Local Government, Mr Molloy who initiated the study. He will then report to the Government.
Minister Molloy today said the courts clarified on numerous occasions since 1992 that there can be no legal duty on the State to compensate taxi licence holders in relation to the open market values of licences.
He added there can be no question of payments being made to the holders of taxi licences for any perceived loss of value arising from liberalisation.
The Minister today also launched a consultation process to improve the quality of taxi services, especially in the area of wheelchair access.
SIPTU this evening welcomed the decision by the Minister to "examine the financial losses which taxi drivers have experienced since deregulation".
"In November 2001 we called on the Minister to appoint an independent third party to assess the nature and extent of the financial losses accruing to individual taxi drivers and to bring forward appropriate mechanisms for compensation", said SIPTU general president Mr Des Geraghty.