I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Alan Kelly, to the House and acknowledge his hands-on approach to the transport portfolio. He is doing good work on the taxi industry. For example, he met all the key stakeholders and chaired a review group established early this year to examine ways to improve legislation on the taxi industry.
I have the greatest respect for the vital job that is done by taxi service operators as I see it at first hand every day in my Longford-Westmeath constituency and Dublin city. Taxi men and, more recently, taxi women have served their communities for generations. The sector makes an essential contribution to urban life and has helped rural areas move from isolation to connection.
Front-line workers such as taxi drivers must be protected. Taxi drivers are akin to emergency response personnel in that they work irregular hours, away from their families, with no set or guaranteed income at the end of their long working day. They must often wait for long periods in taxi ranks before being called into service. In performing their role, they provide a service to people when it is needed. The burden and sacrifice attached to their job adds a certain amount of hardship and stress.
In the past ten years, taxi drivers have been squeezed by improper and excessive regulation which has been imposed from the top down. Licensed taxi service owners are being threatened daily by illegal operators because enforcement has failed. It is now proposed to remove the right of taxi operators to pass on their businesses to their children. I am concerned about the adverse effects this proposal will have on established licensed taxi service operators. Deregulation in other areas is also destroying the taxi service business.
The enforcement of small public service vehicle rules, which is undertaken by the Garda Síochána and National Roads Authority compliance officers, is not working owing to the excessive amount of cross-compliance. The taxi sector is a good example of an industry that has been over-regulated. Before the Minister of State assumed responsibility for the taxi sector, the voice of the ordinary taxi driver working at the coal face of the business had been seldom, if ever, heard. Taxi drivers deliver the service on the ground and listen to users' views on where services could be improved.
In the past decade, far too may changes and demands have come from the top down. Licensed taxi service owners are finding it more difficult by the day to juggle the demands of work, legislation, deregulation and family life. Taxi operators who started operating prior to deregulation and have built successful businesses through hard work, often to the detriment of their health, have fallen victim to the actions of illegal operators. The problem is not small public service vehicle requirements but the fact that illegal operators are falling through the cracks in terms of enforcement.
I understand the Commission on Taxi Regulation was established for the purposes of bettering society, improving the security of taxi operators and the general public and delivering a better licensed taxi service. It is heart-breaking that hardworking taxi operators who work long hours as they seek to provide for their families in a difficult and competitive sector are falling victim to legislation which could victimise them and their families by removing the right to pass on their business, except in the event of death of a licence holder. I ask the Minister of State to provide greater clarity on this issue and the provisions of section 2. This proposal runs counter to competitive norms and will act as a major disincentive to enterprise. No one in his or her right mind could condone such a rule. By virtue of their self-employed status, taxi drivers lack certain entitlements. For this reason, we must ensure that, in common with farmers and the owners of land, shops and other businesses, the owners of taxi businesses are allowed to pass on to their children the business they have built up. The current draconian provision should be removed from the Bill to allow taxi drivers to operate in a manner similar to other businesses.
This Bill is the most forward-looking and comprehensive legislation on the taxi sector since the foundation of the State. It replaces a 2003 Act which was written in great haste following a court case and corrects many of the mistakes Fianna Fáil-led Governments made. The current legislation fails to protect consumers and taxi drivers. This Bill will bring to an end the practice of turning a blind eye to taxi regulation and allowing irregularities to continue unchecked. Its main provisions include mandatory disqualification from holding a licence on conviction for certain offences. This provision will be implemented through an amendment to section 36 of the 2003 Act.
The Bill provides for suspension or revocation of a licence or refusal of a licence application, having regard to the suitability of a person to hold a licence, based on, among other considerations, convictions for relevant offences or breaches of taxi regulations. It will remove certain categories of criminals from the taxi sector. When the Garda refuses to grant a person a taxi licence, he or she is able to win on appeal because of the flaws in the old legislation. I am delighted this section is being changed in the interest of public safety.
Taxi drivers should not be allowed to stop suddenly on a main thoroughfare on a busy evening to collect passengers. I have often had near misses as a result of such behaviour and have received many other complaints on the issue. This is a practice that should come to an end and should be liable to a very severe penalty. I hope we will see the use of cameras, CCTV and other apparatus for the enforcement of laws and for this evidence to be used in court proceedings. I was alarmed when I heard of a recent report which pointed out that one in three taxi drivers had experienced threatening abuse and violence against them in the past five years. This is shocking and to prevent this type of behaviour we need enforcement of the law regarding security by way of CCTV cameras and other apparatus.
The often hidden but nonetheless increasingly important service and supports some taxi drivers provide to people with disabilities must be acknowledged. I would fully support extending the excise duty rebate that was given to private bus operators and goods vehicles in last year's budget. This is something that should be considered. Perhaps the Minister of State might bring it to the notice of his colleagues, the Ministers Deputies Noonan and Howlin. It would be very welcome if it were implemented in the forthcoming budget.
Over the years I have worked with many different groups and organisations in my constituency of Longford-Westmeath in an effort to bring about improvements in the day-to-day lives of ordinary families and businesspeople, who have seen their livelihoods destroyed by the recession. I have also worked closely with the Government to improve their circumstances. I meet groups of taxi drivers once or twice a year and they always express their concerns. They are very reasonable people who carry a vast amount of knowledge. They have their fingers on the pulse and provide an insight on how the country is going, the views of the people, etc. We would not need all the opinion polls we see in the media if we listened more frequently to the concerns and issues taxi drivers raise with public representatives.
I welcome that the Bill will give powers to the licensing authority to suspend or revoke a licence for non-compliance with the law. An area that needs to be addressed and cracked down on is taxi operators who hire undocumented immigrants and pay them a pittance. Only a very small minority carry on in this fashion but it is unfair to the legal operators who run their business within the law. As we know, every year thousands of people enter our country legally and another few thousand people come without authorisation or overstay their legal visas. It is rumoured that some of those are employed in the taxi trade. Companies or individuals who hire undocumented workers in this area or any other area are just as guilty of breaking the law as the people they hire and I understand the Bill addresses this ongoing issue.
Customer safety must be a top priority and we must ensure that adequate background checks are done on all would-be drivers and licence holders be they Irish or non-Irish. If this necessitates contacting foreign embassies for further clearance, then so be it. All passengers must be assured that they are travelling with trustworthy individuals. It is important that we require all companies in the taxi business and elsewhere to be in compliance with the law, as we need to hold everyone accountable.
While the Government is ensuring new employment eligibility verifications are being put in place, not alone for taxi companies but for all companies, the odd one still slips through the net. We have made it mandatory for employers to verify that their employees are legally eligible to work in the State. We all know and recognise that the taxi service in Ireland is extremely important to the economic profile of many of our towns with foreign investment, particularly those that do not have a rail service. Taxis provide an essential countrywide service and it is important that it is maintained, enhanced and upgraded.
The rural transport project has proved to be a wonderful success story and has given rural people a wider choice in addressing social exclusion in rural areas and providing a door-to-door service to the most vulnerable in our society. I welcome the provisions in the Bill relating to the rural hackney service, which will give rural people a wider choice. In recognition of the lower levels of access to taxi or hackney services in rural areas, this is very welcome. Many people in rural areas are isolated in their homes. It will provide support to small rural pubs and other businesses. I hope it will enhance the lives of many people in such areas.
