TDs and Senators want ban on taxi licences

LEGISLATION WHICH would establish a three-year moratorium on the issuing of taxi licenses should be introduced urgently, the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport has said.

The committee also called for extra taxi rank spaces to be provided by local authorities in Dublin, Cork, Galway, Waterford and Limerick, and for the practice of renting or leasing taxi licences to be discontinued.

It said new applicants should be required to undergo tests equal to or exceeding the standard required to receive an Irish driving licence and that taxi drivers who wish to relinquish their plates be obliged to return them to the Taxi Regulator at cost price to eliminate the practice of reselling them elsewhere.

A total of 11 recommendations made by the committee have been sent to Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey. They follow an examination of the industry by the committee of TDs and Senators.

Earlier this year, a series of protests by Siptu and a group called Taxi Drivers for Change called for a moratorium on licences because of overcrowding leading to lower earnings in the industry. Drivers also called for a process allowing drivers to appeal decisions of the Taxi Regulator. There are an estimated 21,000 taxis here.

However, a review of the industry carried out by Goodbody Economic Consultants dismissed demands for a moratorium on new licences. The findings of the review were rejected by members of the committee in March and it subsequently launched the examination, during which it met the Taxi Regulator and taxi unions.

Committee chairman Frank Fahey, a Fianna Fáil TD, said it seems the taxi industry is in need of change and better regulation.

“It seems that no proper system of control or supervision of the industry exists, meaning that the service to the public is not what it should be. We feel standards must be improved . . . the introduction of a three year freeze in licences is the best way to do this.”

Siptu branch organiser Jerry Brennan cautiously welcomed the recommendations.