I welcome the Minister of State to the House. My motion on the Adjournment relates to one of the issues that has caused much grief to decision makers over a long time. It relates to the taxi service and what will happen regarding taxi plates. This matter has been badly handled over many years and when the provision of new taxi plates was conferred on the local authorities in the mid-1990s, the four local authorities in Dublin set about putting together a package of proposals in regard to a gradual introduction of extra taxi plates. An enormous degree of lobbying took place as some sectors of the industry did not want extra plates.
The Taoiseach decided to intervene and stymied the whole development which was being undertaken by the local authorities, which had statutory responsibility for the matter. Out of the blue it became the responsibility of the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment and Local Government who deregulated the industry. In principle I am not in favour of deregulation. Every industry needs to be regulated. This substantial act of deregulation by the Government arose from neglect over a period and a mishandling of the industry. Once it happens there are grave consequences and there is a negative impact on many people. Obviously customer service should improve. The number of taxis has doubled. Given that there has not been a moratorium on the number of hackneys, they have been increasing all the time. An industry that had a certain amount of cohesion became scattered and incoherent. A taxi plate that had a certain value now has no value.
A number of people got into the industry on a proper basis. For example, people who had taken redundancy money used it to buy a taxi plate. They saw it as a contribution towards their pension in later years and a nest egg for their family at the time. It had a value, but once deregulation was introduced it had no value. The adverse effects have been experienced by people who had mortgages and other borrowings. There are great difficulties in making such repayments. Many people are now paying for a plate which cost £70,000 or £80,000 and which now has no value. They are in hock to banks, building societies and credit unions on what they believed was a genuine asset.
Widows are probably more affected than anybody else in that they are unable to work the plate. The plate has no sale value and the breadwinner is no longer there. A number of people have suffered as a result of the deregulation of the industry. They are the people on whose behalf I raise the matter. The organisation, Families Advocate Immediate Redress, has been established. I do not know whether it has had significant talks with the Minister on the matter. It has been lobbying and has gone to the European Commission on the matter. There is much concern in the organisation, many of whose members are suffering hardship arising from this matter. Has the Minister of State taken significant steps to ensure hardship is alleviated in the taxi industry?
