Vol. 495 No. 1
42 Mr. Quinn asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government when the next meeting of the Dublin Taxi Forum will take place; whether he has met recently with representatives from the taxi unions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14946/98]
58 Mr. O'Shea asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the proposals, if any, he has to amend the taxi licensing system; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19277/98]
70 Proinsias De Rossa asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government if he has received the report of the Dublin Taxi Forum; if so, his views on the implementation of the recommendations made in the report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19360/98]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 42, 58 and 70 together.
The scope and operation of the regulations relating to taxis and hackneys is kept under regular review by my Department. The Road Traffic (Public Service Vehicles) (Amendment) Regulations, 1995, established a comprehensive revised framework for the licensing and operation of taxis and hackneys on the basis of a substantial devolution of policy and control to local authorities.
Amendments made in 1997 and 1998 have changed certain criteria for the assessment of applications for new taxi and wheelchair accessible taxi licences and amplified and clarified the specification for wheelchair accessible taxis. More recent amendments made in 1998 have simplified the requirements to be met by applicants for public service vehicle driver licences. This included the removal of the requirement for applicants to undertake that they would be available to operate as public service vehicle drivers for at least 40 hours in each week.
The Dublin Taxi Forum completed its work in August 1998 and addressed a comprehensive set of recommendations to various Departments, the Garda Síochána, local authorities and the service providers. I am giving careful consideration to those recommendations as are the other public bodies.
Will the Minister of State publish the recommendations of the Dublin Taxi Forum or at least refer them to the Oireachtas Committee on Environment and Local Government so Members of the House will have an opportunity to debate them? Is he satisfied with the number of taxis currently available in Dublin?
There is no reason for the recommendations not to be published but I will communicate again with the Deputy on the matter. The Dublin Taxi Forum was established on the Taoiseach's initiative and the report was given to him on 2 September. The forum comprised a cross-community representative group and it recommended that there should be more taxis in the Dublin area. It mentioned a figure which was greatly in excess of the current number.
With regard to the Deputy's second question, more taxis are required although I do not have an opinion on how many.
Very brave of the Minister of State.
Form an opinion.
Since the Minister of State agrees that more taxis are required in Dublin, when can we anticipate a decision on the matter?
The Deputy is aware that these matters were devolved to local authorities——
They were subsumed to the forum on the Taoiseach's recommendation.
Make sure there is no cherry-picking of these recommendations.
The main recommendations which are being addressed by my Department are the following: modified points system for entry to the taxi market; transfer of the vehicle inspection function from the Garda Síochána to the local authorities or the new national car testing service; remove the restriction on the use of two way radios and telephonic equipment by hackneys; no change regarding prohibitions on roof signage and use of bus lanes by hackneys; introduction of some other form of identification of hackneys for enforcement purposes; consideration of new regulations to allow taxi sharing and extension of the period of PSV driver's licence. The implementation or otherwise of the recommendations which affect my Department will receive careful consideration.
There is precious little there for the users.
I am just dealing with the matters in the forum report which are germane——
What about the users?
Consumers were represented on the forum. The forum comprised people drawn from consumer interests——
Was that Deputy Ivor Callely?
——taxi representative groups, the Dublin local authorities, the Garda Síochána and a number of Departments.
The Minister of State is answering with a grin on his face. I take it he was not impressed with the forum.
Is the Minister of State aware that the appropriate decision-making bodies with regard to certain decisions in respect of taxis, particularly the number and cost of taxis, are the Dublin local authorities? Is he also aware that the local authorities commissioned a report and wish to make their decisions on foot of that report's recommendations? The decision-making process was postponed in deference to the forum set up by the Taoiseach, about whose purpose nobody was clear. The local authorities waited until it received the forum's report. Will the Minister of State postpone consideration of the forum's recommendations until the local authorities have time to make their own recommendations? The recommendations which fall within the Department's remit run in tandem with those of the local authorities.
Dublin Corporation has not yet endorsed the Oscar Faber report which it commissioned. I have no difficulty accepting the Deputy's suggestion——
The Minister of State will do nothing about it.
Many of these functions are devolved functions and the Department's remit mainly extends to changes that might be necessary in road traffic legislation or the introduction of new legislation. I am not sure what will be required.
That is crystal clear.
It is important the Department is made aware of the views of all local authorities with regard to recommendations for changes in taxi legislation or regulations. However, the problem in Dublin is acute and it is important Dublin Corporation make its views known on its own report.
Dublin Corporation had only one part of the role in making the decision; it was the four Dublin local authorities. We did not endorse anything to do with the report until such time as we had the Taoiseach's report.
I understood the Deputy said that.
The Minister of State mentioned that among the items being looked at by his Department was this old chestnut of the use of bus lanes by hackneys. Will the Minister of State explain why, up to now, it has been his Department's policy that hackneys should not be allowed to use bus lanes? Is the Minister of State aware that I had some correspondence with the Minister, Deputy Dempsey, earlier on? When I asked him to explain what the policy was, he simply said that is what it always has been, which is not an answer.
That is the answer the Deputy got.
Is there some difference in quality between the value to the freeing up of traffic by allowing persons sitting in a taxi to drive down a bus lane that is not inherently available in persons sitting in a hackney driving down a bus lane?
A haxi might be the solution.
It might, indeed. Will the Minister now use his legendary courage to put an end to this utterly stupid distinction between taxis and hackneys when it comes to the use of bus lanes?
And take them all out of the bus lane?
No. That is a typical civil servant answer, a rubber stamp reply.
That is a politician's answer.
Apply some logic.
I am here to answer questions, not to make legislation. The question of hackneys being authorised to use bus lanes is a controversial one. One of the reports recommended it and the other report advised against it. It is one of the matters that will receive careful consideration before any decisions are made.
Radical or redundant — I think we have the options all right.
