Sir, - Olivia Mitchell TD (January 13th) is mistaken about where responsibility for Dublin taxi licence numbers resided in the past.
From 1978 until 1991, Dublin Corporation was the sole competent authority for taxi licence numbers in the Dublin area. Successive Dublin city councils did not see fit during this period to permit any increase in taxi licence numbers over those obtaining in 1978.
In response to this situation, control of taxi numbers in Dublin (but not in any other area) was temporarily transferred to the Minister for the Environment and Local Government between 1991 and 1995. Some 100 additional taxi licences and 50 additional wheelchair accessible taxi licences were issued under this regime - the first new licences since 1978. Responsibility for taxi numbers, and for issuing licences, was devolved back to Dublin Corporation in 1995.
The clear and preferred policy of the Department of the Environment and Local Government over more than 20 years has been to mandate local authorities with control of key aspects of taxi regulation. The Minister for the Environment and Local Government continues to support the development of an improved service within this framework. - Yours, etc., Ronnie Devlin, Press Officer,
Department of the Environment, Custom House, Dublin 1.