I propose to take Questions Nos. 204 and 205 together.
The taxi hardship panel was established as an independent body to report in general terms on the nature and extent of extreme personal financial hardship which may have been experienced by individual taxi licence holders arising from loss of income as a direct result of the liberalisation of entry to the taxi industry on 21 November 2000. My Department was not a party to the deliberations of the panel.
The panel's report indicates that it met on a number of occasions with taxi representative groups and that some 2,000 submissions were received. In addition to examining these submissions, the panel invited a number of affected individuals to meet it and present their cases.