Mr. Hugh Creegan:

I thank the committee for the invitation to attend this meeting. I understand that the committee wishes to focus on the draft Small Public Service Vehicle (Consolidation and Reform) Regulations 2014 which have recently been the subject of public consultation. Small public service vehicles include taxis, hackneys and limousines. Following a Government decision of June 2011 a wide-ranging review of the industry, chaired by the Minister of State with responsibility for public and commuter transport, Deputy Alan Kelly, was carried out. The resultant review report was published in January 2012. The aim of the review was to secure consumer confidence in the taxi system by ensuring that an appropriate regulatory framework is in place and is adequately enforced.

The National Transport Authority was given responsibility for implementing the vast majority of actions, including enactment of the necessary statutory instruments. Certain actions required primary legislation to be enacted. The Taxi Regulation Act 2013 was enacted at the end of last year and it included all the required legislative changes needed to deliver on the review’s actions. Some sections of the Act have been commenced but the main body of it is to be commenced in the coming months in tandem with the consolidated regulations. The draft regulations were released for public consultation on 19 December 2013. Submissions could be made until 31 January 2014. A total of 242 submissions were received.

The advisory committee on small public service vehicles, a statutory group appointed by the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport to represent the operators within the industry and various other relevant stakeholders, will also set out its views directly to the authority. All of these views will be considered by the board of the authority when it convenes later this month to decide on the regulations. As part of this deliberative process, I will bring the views of this committee to the attention of the board of the authority.

As regards what is contained in the draft regulations, first, they consolidate all existing taxi regulations into one statutory instrument, bringing together regulations made over the past 50 years. Second, various new regulations have been included to give effect to the requirements of the Government review. The appendix overleaf includes a list of key changes proposed. I hope I can address any queries arising.