Seanad Éireann debate -
Thursday, 10 Feb 2000

Vol. 162 No. 6

Adjournment Matters. Dental Services. - Taxi Regulations.

Mr. Costello

It is a pity the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment and Local Government, Deputy Molloy, could not be here for this matter, which is of considerable importance and which is in the courts through the actions taken by both the hackney drivers and the taxi drivers.

Once again, the Government has made a dog's dinner of the issuing of taxi plates. Initially the matter was referred to the local authorities who were given the authority to examine the need for and the distribution of the plates and the criteria to be established. The local authorities in Dublin set up the Dublin taxi and hackney forum to co-ordinate the entire operation of the service within the 50-mile limit that covers Dublin city and the metropolitan area. No sooner had they done so than the Taoiseach set up his own forum. When the powers were statutorily transferred to the local authorities, the Taoiseach began to interfere in the matter. There were two forums operating side by side which caused an enormous amount of confusion. Now Deputy Molloy revokes the authority given to the local authorities to determine the number of plates and decide the criteria for the distribution, and gives authority to his Department.

The Department of the Environment and Local Government has done a U-turn on this issue, creating further confusion on the matter. The number of taxi plates has doubled and the Minister has decreed that it should be one on one, with everyone who has an existing taxi licence getting a further one. A total of 500 licences for wheelchair accessible taxis will go to the cosies, but only 19 people applied because they are so expensive and no assistance is given by the Government towards the cost of the vehicle, VRT and so on. Nobody is interested in them, although there are 500 licences available. The manner in which they are given out means there is no take-up of them.

The other 2,700 licences are being given out to those who already have licences. This is a totally inexplicable situation where those who already have a valuable licence will receive another. Most of those who already have licences have issued them to cosies who work for them. Some people in the Minister of State's party own a number of those licences. I see no logic in granting new licences to those who already have them. It will cause real difficulties.

The Minister of State intruded in the existing system where certain criteria had been long established. Those criteria allowed the cosies who own PSV licences and work for licence holders on contract and hackney drivers to accumulate points to bring them in out of the cold, so to speak, when new licences became available. They are now excluded. The cosies and the hackney drivers have no access to the new licences under the new ministerial dispensation. That is a breach of the long standing criteria which have operated in local authorities.

The Minister of State has discriminated against those who have been operating a service at present but the drivers cannot get a new taxi licence because the existing points system has been ended. Why is this happening? Will it be permanent? Will the Minister of State, having removed this authority from the local authorities, make that removal permanent? Will it only cover the Dublin area? Will it be lifted to allow the hackneys and the cosies in out of the cold or will they have to find redress through the courts? It is a mess. We recognise that we must increase access to taxis for the community but the way it has been done was not a step forward. A process was being worked out but the Minister of State charged in like a bull in a china shop and stymied it. It will now be difficult to make any progress.

Dr. Moffatt

The revised document, An Action Programme for the Millennium, published in November 1999, made an explicit commitment to improve the Dublin taxi service through the introduction of measures to increase the number of taxi licences in Dublin to ensure a proper balance between supply and demand in the market.

On 30 November 1999 the Government decided to provide for an early grant of a substantial number of new taxi licences in the Dublin taximeter area to be apportioned as follows. One new taxi licence is to be offered to each individual who held a taxi licence in Dublin at the end of 1999, 500 of these new licences are to be for wheelchair accessible taxis and 500 additional licences are to be granted to applicants under the current points scheme. The Government initiat ive was in response to the greatly increased demand for taxi services in the Dublin area driven by strong economic growth.

Regulations were made on 13 January 2000 to trigger the process whereby all existing licence holders in the Dublin area, known as qualified persons, may apply for the grant of either a taxi or wheelchair accessible taxi licence from Dublin Corporation. A qualified person for the purpose of regulations is a person who on 31 December 1999 held a taxi or wheelchair accessible taxi licence granted by Dublin Corporation or was entitled to renew a taxi or a wheelchair accessible taxi licence granted by the corporation or was in receipt of an offer for the grant of a wheelchair accessible taxi licence under the 1995 regulations in respect of which the process for the grant of the licence had not been completed.

In accordance with the regulations, Dublin Corporation has issued a notice to each licence holder inviting them to apply for either an ordinary taxi licence or a wheelchair accessible taxi licence, applications to be received by the corporation no later than 18 February 2000. Applicants who express a preference for the grant of a wheelchair accessible taxi licence and who comply with the regulation requirements may be made an offer of the grant of such a licence.

Other taxi licences for existing licence holders, as well as those to be allocated under the current points assessment scheme, are to be allocated in accordance with a scheme to be established by the Minister. It will be open to any individual to make application for the grant of one of the 500 licences under the assessment system in due course and such applications will be subject to the normal application process to be administered by Dublin Corporation. All licences to be granted will be transferable without restriction and restrictions on the transfer of certain existing taxi licences in Dublin will also cease from 18 February 2000. The fees for the grant of licences will be £2,500 for an ordinary taxi licence and £250 for a wheelchair accessible taxi licence.

As already indicated, it is open to any individual, including hackney drivers, to make an application for the grant of one of the licences to be granted under the existing points assessment system which is set out in the Road Traffic (Public Service Vehicles) (Amendment) Regulations, 1999.

The use of points system criteria for the assessment of applications for the grant of taxi licences was introduced in 1991 and has been the subject of a number of amendments, most recently in February 1999, following consultation with authorities and other interested parties. The criteria give priority to taxi drivers – cosies – who have never held taxi, wheelchair accessible taxi or hackney licences in the allocation of new licences. The amendment to the criteria of February 1999 relaxes earlier provisions which excluded all previous hackney licence holders from the fullest application of points. A more limited restriction now applies only to persons who have held a hackney licence within the previous relevant two years. The point of reference for this period is the date of publication of the notice by the licensing authority of the relevant determination to grant new taxi licences.

With regard to the use of quality bus corridors, full access to bus lanes is at present permitted only to buses and large public service vehicles. Pedal cycles and taxis may use "with flow" bus lanes. Hackneys, as private hire vehicles, have not been permitted to use bus lanes in view of their more limited service role, which does not involve publicly standing or plying for hire. The Dublin Taxi Forum, while recommending some form of external identification for hackneys to facilitate the enforcement of regulations by the Garda Síochána, nonetheless recommended against the merging of the separate service roles of taxis and hackneys, against roof signage for hackneys and against permitting access to bus lanes for hackneys. The Department of the Environment and Local Government has no proposals to extend the use of bus lanes to hackneys at this time.

The Seanad adjourned at 4.30 p.m. until 2.30 p.m. on Wednesday, 16 February 2000.