asked the Minister for Supplies if he will state under what authority and for what purpose members of the Irish Taxi and Hackney Owners' Association were instructed from the Department of Supplies that they were not to ply for hire to Leopardstown or Baldoyle Racecourses, and if he will state the terms of these instructions and the dates upon which they were issued.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Instructions to Hackney Owners.
No instructions of the nature referred to in the Deputy's question were issued by my Department to the Irish Taxi and Hackney Owners' Association. Representatives of the association were, however, asked to convey to its members that, in view of the restricted quantities of petrol available for taxi owners, it was advisable for them to avoid long journeys outside the city and to use their allowances to the best advantage possible for trips within the metropolitan area only.
Are we to understand that, in spite of any misinterpretation the representatives of the Taxi Owners' Association may have placed on the instructions they got from the Department, there is no such order?
I think that taxi owners and all motor vehicle owners should be continuously advised not to use petrol for journeys for which railway transport is available.
Does the Minister not agree that he has got the greatest possible co-operation from the Irish Taxi Owners' Association and if he refers to the condition of traffic in the city, or in parts of the city of Dublin, on certain roads, on the day of the Leopardstown meeting, he will understand that because certain taxis were withheld from that meeting, there was very considerable dislocation of traffic for the ordinary people who usually travel by the Harcourt Street line?