Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Creegan for his presentation. I would like first to establish the reason the decision was taken to enact these regulations by way of statutory instrument. In my view, the volume of information contained in the regulations should be included in primary legislation. In my experience statutory instruments are used for updating rules and procedures. They are generally not of the volume contained in the draft regulations before us. I would have thought it better to have this dealt with by way of primary legislation. Perhaps Mr. Creegan would comment on that.

I would like now to discuss with Mr. Creegan some concerns which I have raised previously at this committee. Based on the consultations I have had with taxi drivers and various groups there is a lack of belief in the taxi advisory committee. The information I have from a diverse group of taxi drivers and representative groups is that it is not working from a taxi driver's point of view. Perhaps Mr. Creegan would also comment on that matter.

There is concern in the industry around the decision taken by the National Transport Authority regarding the introduction of a new class of taxi licence, namely, a smaller wheelchair accessible vehicle. In this regard changes have been made to the regulations to provide that a small vehicle may carry only one passenger together with the person in the wheelchair. A further change is that such vehicle must be only six years old or newer, while previously the requirement was that it be only three years old or newer. The general understanding around the necessity to improve the qualitative nature of taxis was that it also provided a way of dealing with the quantitative issue that has arisen because of the proliferation of the issuance of licences, which has had a negative impact on the industry as a whole. This leads me on to the Indecon report, in which it is suggested that in the issuance of the licence the NTA would outline to taxi drivers the fact that there was a level of over-subscription in the business and that it was virtually impossible to make a decent living out of it. This appears to have been excluded from the overall approach taken. The Indecon report states that initiatives to produce credible market information on the extent of low incomes and low taxi utilisation in the sector should be implemented and highlighted to discourage uninformed new entrants to the sector. In providing increased market information, it would be beneficial to ensure that potential entrants have accurate information about possible earnings in the sector. Information on utilisation rates and earnings with dispatch firms might also be beneficial for existing as well as potential entrants. This does not appear to have been taken on board.

There is also concern in regard to the new licence grade for the smaller wheelchair accessible vehicle in that it must be loaded from the rear, which may have implications for people seeking to get into the taxi at a taxi rank and may have some implications for road safety. I would welcome Mr. Creegan's comments on that matter. It appears to be yet another backdoor way of increasing the volume of licences and the concern is that the market will be flooded with this type of vehicle with no guarantee that it will in any way increase the level of response from those with that particular licence grade to attend or meet the needs of the wheelchair community.

Another concern is the dormant or inactive licence in respect of which the duration has been reduced from five years to one year. That is overly restrictive. There are many reasons why a person might find himself or herself out of the business for a period, including inability to keep a car on the road, ill-health and so on. I would be hopeful that the authority could find its way to restoring the duration in that regard to five years.

Other concerns relate to the preclusion from advertising. I do not see the logic in that. To me, it does not appear to be a problem. I use public transport and have not as yet seen any advertising which I believed to be distasteful or overly commercial. There is concern among some in the industry that this is a case of the NTA taking control, with it ultimately charging a fee to allow for advertising which it deems appropriate. I believe that would be a retrograde step. Concern has also been expressed about how dormant licences are being bought up. It is suggested that these are being connected to a vehicle within the three year age group and later transferred on, which is not helpful to the business generally.

Questions have been raised about the driver check application and the glitch in the system that appears to allow a third party to change a driver's details without permission. I would welcome Mr. Creegan's comments on that issue. Concern has also been expressed about the Luas construction works in Dublin and the impact they are having on the ranks and the lack of replacement ranks during the period of construction.

The taxi industry generates approximately €5 million annually by way of licence fees. Despite this, there is no investment by the NTA in the infrastructure of the service.

There is real concern about the transfer of licences and particularly the inability to transfer them, and the witness would not be surprised to hear that. There are concerns from drivers who would like to see the national car test and SGS verification provided at one location. That is an operational issue. There are also concerns about driver vetting, although I must be careful as I should not give the impression that we are being racist in any way. There may be an inability to do an appropriate background check on somebody who does not come from this State, so will the witness comment on that?

Regulations deal with part-time drivers and there is a requirement to notify employers, which seems to be a box-ticking exercise rather than actively seeking confirmation from the principal employer of the individual concerned that notification has been given that the person is participating in part-time taxi work. My understanding is the regulations set out a requirement that somebody cannot drive a taxi or small public service vehicle for greater than 11 hours at a time but how can that be enforced? There is also the introduction of the credit card system and the expectation that drivers will have to carry the cost associated with that credit transaction, with drivers not being able to charge for the additional cost of providing the service.

That is a flavour of the concerns expressed to me by numerous taxi drivers. There are others and I am sure other members will be able to add to them. Will the witness provide the rationale for this from the National Transport Authority?