Mr. Huge Creegan:

Exactly. The only people who can do that are people who have log in details from us. If the Deputy did it, for example, we would have in our records the fact that he was the person who did it. The concern was that we might be prosecuting the poor driver who was inadvertently knocked off the system. We would not do that. As soon as he tells us he was logged on and something must have happened, we have the record available to see what happened and see who did it. We are going to add into the draft regulations a provision to state that such malicious behaviour is an offence and we can deal with it. It is not there at present, but it will be added.

On the Luas ranks issue, there is disruption to many people as a result of building the Luas project through the city. We are trying to manage that. There has been a great deal of engagement with the taxi industry. In terms of the temporary works, each time a rank is affected replacement ranks are identified. That is not to say everybody is happy all the time because they are not, but people are doing their best to try to get the best replacement package possible. With regard to the longer term, a certain amount of rank space is being lost in the long term and there are plans for an equivalent amount of replacement. For the drivers, 56 full-time ranks will be lost through the Luas work but we expect to have more than 56 full-time ranks back by the end of it. Indeed, there are proposals for a significant number, potentially 125, of additional night time rank spaces. We are in dialogue with Dublin City Council because it is a city council function to decide on the ranks. However, I believe there is enough effort being made to get the right solution to the ranks issue.

Concerns about transfers of licences were mentioned. Transfers of licences are one of the matters affecting the wheelchair accessible vehicles. If people have a choice between spending €10,000 and getting a wheelchair accessible vehicle or buying a second-hand licence and getting a cheaper vehicle, many will take the latter route. In accordance with the primary legislation, the Taxi Regulation Act 2013, transfers would cease as soon as the relevant section is commenced, which we expect to happen quite soon.

With regard to the streamlining of national car testing, NCT, and our taxi licensing, that has been raised with me. While we will end up with the same service provider doing our testing as does the NCT testing, like everything else it might not be that simple, but we will undertake a commitment to streamline it in so far as it is reasonable for us.

As regards vetting, that is carried out by the Garda Síochána. I know the Garda is conscious of the issue of information from outside the jurisdiction, but I cannot go any further than that.

On the issue of credit card charges and drivers to carry the cost of credit card charges, there is a fair amount of uncertainty at present as to what is allowable or not allowable on credit card charges and we wanted to bring clarity to that. There are people who charge significant fees on top of the fare for accepting payment by credit card. It appears to be unreasonable that a tourist coming into Dublin Airport takes one taxi and is charged one fee and no credit card charge while in another taxi the fee is in double digits, such as 10%, 11% or 15%. That has happened and we wish to address it. It was never our intention that the drivers would have to bear the cost. Our intention in drafting the regulations was to state that one could not charge anything extra for payment by credit or debit card and that we would follow that through by adjusting the fare structure to add a cent or half cent or whatever was necessary on the euro to compensate drivers, so they are not at a loss. Again, in consultation with the taxi advisory committee, whether that is the best model or whether another model where we should just put a cap on the fee or credit card charge has been the subject of a fair amount of discussion. Currently, the NTA is biased towards amending that regulation to simply propose a cap and state that 4% or 5% is the maximum that can be charged for credit card charges. We are confident that this would at least bring some control to it. However, the issue was never about trying to impose the charge on the drivers.

As regards the declaration of other employment and driving more than 11 hours, the rule about driving more than 11 hours is one of the consolidated regulations. It has existed for years at this stage. It is correct that it is very hard to prove that. Unless somebody honest volunteers that he or she has done it, it is very hard to prosecute. However, it is a regulation and we did not wish to lose it for the time being. On the declaration of other employment, perhaps we could do more on that front but I believe we have brought it a fair distance from where it was.