Mr. Gerard Macken:

On quality bus corridors, the Drumcondra bus corridor, to and from the city, is a complete mess at peak times owing to illegal parking, including for deliveries. There is major congestion along the route from Quinn's pub to Dorset Street as traffic enforcement along bus lanes is non-existent. While the installation of a traffic monitoring system in the area has been mentioned, I understand legislation is needed to allow for its installation. There is, therefore, no quality bus corridor to the city centre. Often three or four buses end up trapped behind each other because a car or other vehicle is parked illegally in the bus lane.

On the plan for the College Green plaza, one of the alternative routes proposed by Taxi Alliance Ireland was Anglesea Street to Fleet Street to Westmoreland Street. If legislation is not introduce soon to regulate rickshaws, taxis will drop passengers off on the plaza where rickshaws will pick them them up. That is a joke, but the Minister does not appear to be interested in addressing the issue. People in wheelchairs and others who have trouble in getting around need to be dropped off at the door at their destination. If no alternative routes are provided for taxis, if a taxi picks up a passenger who wants to go to Fairview, Malahide or Howth, he or she will have drive to Winetavern Street, travel down the quays and across O'Connell Bridge, which is not acceptable. I have not heard of any alternative today to enable taxis to move around the city. When the plaza is finished, taxi drivers will be permitted to turn left from Dawson Street onto Nassau Street, but currently if they pick up a passenger on Dawson Street and need to get to Pearse Street, they have to travel via Molesworth Street, South Frederick Street and Nassau Street. They are constantly getting it in the neck because these issues are not being addressed.

We have an awful lot of concerns. We put in all these objections and have heard absolutely nothing back. Yes, we would love to be part of everyone's joined-up thinking because an awful lot of the time the taxi industry has to go knocking on doors to get in and get our points across. We are an integral part of the city in that we are a door-to-door service. We cannot say to tourists that where they want to go is only around the corner, and the hotels need us. I do not think anyone has even thought of the app companies. If someone presses an app on South Great George's Street and wants a taxi on Westmoreland Street or the other side of the plaza, people will just cancel jobs. There are the despatch operators as well. A lot of thinking needs to go into the question of how we will get to the customers within the city centre, and I have not heard any alternatives whatsoever today for the taxi industry.