Mr. Hugh Creegan:

My understanding, on foot of correspondence with insurance companies, is that if it is genuinely not for reward, non-commercial and is literally what is says on the tin, that is, car sharing between people who probably know each other, then they deem that to be covered by normal domestic and social use policies. However, if it crosses the line and takes on a commercial or reward aspect, then special insurance is required.

In terms of the driver check application to which the Deputy referred, any taxi driver can potentially be driving any licensed taxi vehicle. Therefore, we could not devise a system that said that the taxi driver, Mr. Smith, can only be connected to vehicle X. Potentially, he could be driving any vehicle. We have had to devise a system whereby the driver tells us which vehicle he or she is driving. In the main, we have had no problems on this front. If a problem arises, we have the information available to understand categorically what has occurred and we would not prosecute people for a problem that was not of their making.

On the question of grants for wheelchair accessible vehicles, it is our intention later this year - if these regulations are adopted - to try to put some kind of grant scheme in place to increase the number of wheelchair accessible vehicles in the fleet. That is important to us and we acknowledge that we need to do something on that front. On the Minister's remarks regarding those with criminal convictions working in the taxi industry, I did not hear those remarks first-hand and would prefer not to comment for that reason. I do not know the ins and outs of it.

We understand the concerns about the rank on O'Connell Street. We have had a lot of discussions with Dublin City Council and the taxi representative groups about the rank. It is a very busy street in the context of the use of kerbside space but I know that Dublin City Council has developed a number of different options. It is envisaged that a preferred option will be identified in the coming months and we will then determine if that meets everyone's needs.