Vol. 545 No. 1
257 Ms O. Mitchell asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government his views on the request from the Committee of the Environment and Local Government to bring forward proposals for the relief of the hardship cases resulting from taxi deregulation; and if he will address the cases reported on by a group (details supplied) where individuals risk losing their homes. [29881/01]
The courts have already clarified on a number of occasions since 1992 that there can be no legal duty on the State to compensate taxi licence holders in relation to any secondary market value of licences. There are no current proposals for mitigation measures for licence holders beyond those provided for in the Finance Act, 2001, and in the scheme of taxi licence fee refunds by certain local authorities.
However, without prejudice to this position, I have requested from SIPTU at a meeting on 25 July 2001 a submission categorising cases of specific hardship which may not be fully covered by the current mitigation measures; this submission is still awaited. I am also aware of representations from FAIR and I have suggested to FAIR that they may wish to communicate with SIPTU in relation to their concerns on this matter or make a separate submission to my Department. I am also meeting with representatives from FAIR on 29 November 2001. Pending the receipt and examination of the details which have been requested from the representative groups, I am not in a position to indicate further mitigation measures.
