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Taxi Regulations

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 12 December 2012

Wednesday, 12 December 2012

Questions (251)

Jim Daly

Question:

251. Deputy Jim Daly asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his plans to amend hackney regulations to ensure the owner of an SPSV licence will only be permitted to use that licence on a vehicle registered to the same name; if his attention been drawn to the fact that many hackneys in rural Ireland operate under licences that are rented from previous operators as no new licences are available to purchase; if he will consider allowing hackney operators to purchase the licences they operate under from the owners; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55740/12]

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Written answers

Action 15 of the Taxi Regulation Review Report 2011 proposes a requirement for all holders of small public service vehicles (SPSV) vehicles to also be the registered owner of the vehicle to which the licence relates, with certain limited exclusions permitted to deal with vehicles operating under long term leases. The aim of this proposal is to ensure responsibility is taken by the vehicle licence holder for the upkeep of safety and other standards of vehicles being used to carry members of the public. I understand that the National Transport Authority (NTA) is in the process of bringing in legislation to give effect to this proposal, which will apply to all small public service vehicles, including hackneys.

I am informed by the NTA that hackney licences are not currently transferable to another person and that the NTA do not have any proposals to change that position.   I am also informed by the NTA that the current regulations do facilitate the issuing of wheelchair accessible hackney licences. As part of the Taxi Review, the Review Group considered the specific SPSV requirements in rural areas and in this regard the Review Group proposed the development of a local area hackney licence under Action 46 of the Review Report. The aim of the proposed local area hackney licence is to facilitate the low cost entry to the hackney market for transport provision in rural areas that, otherwise, would be unlikely to have such services. I understand that the NTA will be considering bringing forward proposals to advance this recommendation during next year.

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