I thank Senator Burke for raising the issue. Last year I made public service vehicle regulations which provide for the licensing and operation of taxis and hackneys. The main thrust of the regulations is the devolution to local authorities of all the significant functions relating to licensing of taxis and hackneys.
The primary functions of local authorities as public service vehicle licensing authorities are the licensing of taxis, wheelchair accessible taxis and hackneys, including grant and renewal of all licences. The creation of the new taximeter area and the alteration of the boundaries of existing taximeter areas, the determination of the number of taxis to be licensed in any particular taximeter area, decisions in relation to the maximum fares which may be charged by taxis, and decisions relating to the fees to be paid for all licences are all matters to be determined now by the local authorities themselves. All major policy decisions are vested in the locally elected councillors. These decisions are best made by local representatives who know the area rather than as heretofore being made centrally by a Minister or Department well removed from the experiences of each local authority.
Local authorities under the 1995 regulations have maximum discretion to decide how to cater for the need of taxi and hackney services in their own functional areas. It is a matter for the local authorities to monitor the quality and adequacy of the service being provided in order that they may respond to any unmet demand for this type of transport service in their areas. When the new taximeter area is being created it is up to the licensing authority to determine the optimum number of taxis which should operate in the area. The regulations provide a mechanism for assessing applications for new taxi and wheelchair accessible taxi licences on the basis of a points system. This system gives priority to holders of hackney licences. It is right and proper that people who run a hackney business and who want to become taxi drivers should have priority over somebody who is not in the business at all.
Under the Road Traffic Act, 1961, the Garda Commissioner makes by-laws in relation to taxi ranks, or stands for street service vehicles, as they are referred to in the Act. These by-laws are made with the consent of the Minister for the Environment and must be the subject of consultation with the local authorities concerned. Such by-laws can appoint the places to be used at taxi ranks and fix the maximum number of taxis which may use any particular rank at any one time.
On the question of controlling the number of hackney licences, the position is that the licensing authority — the local authority — is empowered under the regulations I made to grant hackney licences in its own functional area. No limit is set by the regulations on the number of hackney licences; but any local authority is free, where it considers it appropriate, to decide that additional hackney licences will not be granted in its area. If any local authority feels there are sufficient licences for the area, it can simply decide not to issue any more.
The 1995 regulations came into effect last September. I made those regulations following consideration of the report of an interdepartmental committee, examination of the response to that report from local authorities, interest groups and the general public and discussions with representatives of the various interest groups. It is now a matter for the local authorities concerned to apply the regulations as I have set out and as they deem them appropriate in their own functional areas. I have no proposals to amend the regulations at this early stage. I intend, however, to review the position in the light of experience of the operation of the regulations. It would not be right to initiate such a review at least until one year after the commencement of the new system.
