Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 9 March 2004
358 Mr. Crowe asked the Minister for Transport the number, type and subject of communications he has received from the EU Parliament’s Committee on Petitions and Mr. Nino Gemelli in the past 12 months; the content of those communications; the number, type and subject of all responses; the content of those responses; and if he will make a statement on the discussions he has had with the committee. [7650/04]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs I have explained previously in the House, I met with the delegation from the EU Committee on Petitions on 4 April 2003 and outlined the background to taxi liberalisation and the establishment of the independent three person taxi hardship panel to them. I also explained that based on legal precedent there can be no legal duty on the State to compensate taxi licence holders in relation to open market licence values that may have existed prior to liberalisation. This position remains unchanged and I have no proposals to reopen either the terms of the taxi hardship panel report or the Government's decision in regard to it.
The information requested in relation to taxis is set out in the following table:
|
Type of communication |
Content |
Response |
|
E-mail of 2 April 2003 (14.40) from the Secretariat to the EU Committee. |
Enclosing a copy of the draft programme for the visit of the EU Committee delegation to Dublin on 3 and 4 April 2003. |
No response required. |
|
E-mail of 2 April 2003 (14.59) from the Secretariat to the EU Committee. |
Regarding the possible composition of the EU delegation. |
No response required. |
|
Undated letter (received 1 April 2003) from the Secretariat to the EU Committee. |
Thanking the Minister for his willingness to receive a delegation, giving details of the delegation composition and a brief outline of the issues it would wish to discuss on 4 April 2003. |
No response required. |
|
E-mail of 29 April 2003 from the EU Committee Secretariat. |
Enclosing a copy of the 28 April 2003 draft Report of the Committee on the fact-finding visit to Ireland, for information. |
No response required. |
|
E-mail of 30 April 2003 from the EU Committee Secretariat. |
Enclosing a corrected version of the Report of the Committee, for information. |
No response required. |
|
Letter of 21 May 2003 from Mr Nino Gemelli, Chairman, EU Committee on Petitions. |
Expressing thanks to Minister and the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport for the April discussions with the EU delegation, enclosing a copy of the Report of the delegation visit and requesting that the Committee be informed of any decisions which might be taken by the Government on the subject of the EU Committee’s Report in due course. |
Letter of 25 November 2003 from the Minister for Transport to Mr. Gemelli, Chairman of the EU Committee advising him of recent developments relevant to the taxi industry, of the fact that the position is unchanged in that the Minister has no proposals to reopen either the terms of the Taxi Hardship Report or the Government’s decision in relation to it. The letter also advised the Committee of the position regarding the Taxi Hardship Payments Scheme, the Taxi Regulation Act 2003, proposals for the Commission for Taxi Regulation, as well as the establishment of an Advisory Council to the Commission in November 2003. |
|
Copy of letter (undated but received in November 2003) from EU Committee Secretariat to the Permanent Representation of Ireland to the EU. |
Advising that the EU Committee would be returning to discuss a number of Irish Petitions in November 2003 and indicating that it is likely that the Committee will be requesting an explanation as to why the Irish authorities have failed to acknowledge the letter by Mr. Gemelli to Minister on taxi hardship issues and to follow up the recommendations of the Committee. Requesting that the Permanent Representation contact the Committee Secretariat on issues. |
Letter of 25 November 2003 to Mr Gemelli was copied to the Irish Permanent Representation for information on 1 December 2003. |
