Ms Maev Nic Lochlainn:

I might open there. I will do my best and the Chairman can remind me if I forget something important. We have engaged with the NTA and An Garda Síochána extensively on the vehicle and both organisations have always been clear with us that motorised and pedal-assisted rickshaws look the same. One can have a pedal-powered rickshaw which is simply like a bicycle. One cycles it and it moves. One can have a pedal-assisted rickshaw which has a small motor. One pedals and the dynamo starts to work and the rickshaw moves faster. Under road traffic law, both types are regarded and treated as bicycles. As members have pointed out, they do not require motor tax or motor insurance. One cannot get a driving licence for one just as one cannot get a licence to cycle a bike. The other type of rickshaw has a larger motor. Our legal advice suggests that if one can hit a button or turn a throttle which makes the vehicle move without any pedalling or human effort, it is a mechanically-propelled vehicle . If one has a rickshaw which can be used without pedalling in any way, it is a mechanically-propelled vehicle and falls into the definition under road traffic legislation which covers cars, for example. In that case, the rickshaw requires motor tax, a driving licence and motor insurance. That is the main differentiation. The enforcement difficulty is as follows. Deputy Munster mentioned that we are allowing them for personal use. The State is not allowed to prohibit people from using vehicles if there is type approval for that vehicle in the EU. There is type approval for some rickshaws under EU law. However, it is our general experience that rickshaws are really only used in two city centres in Ireland, namely Dublin and Cork. The NTA survey shows that a very high percentage of respondents – 83% - said they were from Dublin while only 5% were from Cork. In essence, the issue is city-centre based. It is not our experience that people buy rickshaws for personal use. They are somewhat cumbersome for personal use. They take a lot of energy to move. As such, our understanding is that people buy them to carry passengers.

Under existing laws, a motorised vehicle being used to carry passengers for hire or reward is governed under the existing Taxi Regulation Act. Currently, the NTA could make regulations to govern them. However, the regulations the NTA has made on small motorised public service vehicles requires them to have four wheels. In essence, the motorised ones are prohibited but as I said of our conversations with the NTA and the Garda, people on the ground seeking to enforce these laws cannot do so because they cannot tell whether a rickshaw is a motorised vehicle. Anecdotally, they have told us that if they put to someone that theirs is a motorised vehicle, the person can literally hop around the corner and remove or adjust the motor in such a way that it becomes a non-motorised vehicle in respect of which a prosecution cannot successfully be brought. While there is a ban on motorised rickshaws already in law, as one is not allowed to have a small mechanically propelled public service vehicle which does not have four wheels if one is trying to carry passengers, it has been impossible to enforce it. The new heads of legislation propose to introduce detention powers which allow anyone to, on a whim essentially, detain a vehicle that looks like a rickshaw that may be motorised and which is carrying passengers or plying to do so. The person can then establish whether it is a vehicle governed under the Taxi Regulation Act or governed by the new Bill when adopted. It means there will be detention powers and the possibility to enforce effectively what the NTA wants to see happen in respect of public service vehicles.