Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

If we go down the road of regulation, it would be useful. Taxis have onerous responsibilities and must comply with certain regulations. We should apply at least the same to plying this trade. In particular, there should be Garda vetting. There should be nobody with a history of the offences that some of the people have who are working with these rickshaws. The Minister mentioned there are people with bench warrants issued because they probably cannot be tracked. Others have been convicted of more serious crimes but are rickshaw drivers. They should not be able to ply this trade.

Compensation has also been mentioned. The vast majority of rickshaws are not paying tax so they would not be entitled to much compensation. Much of this is done on the black market. I would not shy away from this just on the basis of compensation if the decision is to ban it outright and approach it with regulation afterwards. I look forward to seeing what comes from the Department in the very near future.