Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I apologise in advance to Mr. O'Leary from the NBRU. My time is short and I specifically asked that the taxi drivers attend today, so I will fire most of my questions at them. They have been ignored. However, I will quickly put a question to Mr. O'Leary. The subsidies for public transport in Ireland were lower than almost anywhere else in Europe before Covid. For the public's benefit, will Mr. O'Leary say how low they were and how Covid has added dramatically to the case that we must have a substantial increase in them, given that public transport is now more essential than ever?

I will put the rest of my questions to the taxi drivers' representatives. It is obvious that taxi drivers have been ignored and are being treated with contempt by the NTA. Now, their industry has been decimated and there is no roadmap - pardon the pun - back for them in the current period. All of the associated elements - tourism, live entertainment and music, bars and so on - that would have given them the possibility of having some sort of sustainable income are on the floor as well. Will the witnesses state the case for why the income subsidy to allow people to return to work is so crucial? Do they agree that the failure to extend the pandemic payment to people aged over 66 years put the affected taxi drivers in a very dangerous position in terms of their health and that, even now, taxi drivers are caught in a terrible bind? If they return to work, they will lose their payments but they cannot earn a decent living in the current situation. If they remain on the pandemic payment, however, it will be cut and cut again. Indeed, it has already been cut. This puts them in a dilemma.

My next question is on the number of taxis. Before Covid, there were more taxis in Dublin than there were in New York. The idea that the NTA would continue to issue licences for new taxis when the industry is on the floor seems crazy. Perhaps the taxi drivers' representatives could elaborate on this. They might also comment on the appeal for the same large stimulus grants that are being given to some businesses to be given to taxi drivers as well to cover the €11,000 of annual fixed costs.