Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy proposing the amendment said we should not be retrospective, but that is exactly what he has done by proposing the amendment. The Good Friday Agreement was agreed by the citizens of the State and it had nothing in it regarding the Taxi Regulation Bill or licensing. If that was the intention - and the Deputy's party was very involved in the Good Friday Agreement, as we all acknowledge - that was the time it should have been discussed and agreed, if the citizens would have agreed to it.

I support the Minister of State. This is a matter of passenger safety and the suitability of licence holders. I doubt very much that citizens of this country want to be driven around by people with serious convictions - that is the first point. Second, by the very fact of their having convictions they have made themselves targets, and that in itself would passengers in their taxis at risk. I certainly will not be supporting this amendment for those reasons - namely, passenger safety and the suitability of licence holders. This is a taxi Bill, not a rehash of the Good Friday Agreement.