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

I ask the Minister to reconsider the matter relating to the taxi drivers and a few other categories that have been mentioned. Deputy Doherty has pointed out that the flexibility available to businesses, the service industry and so on, may not be as available as one might think. They are closely linked to a premises that is closed. It is absolutely certain that there is no flexibility for the taxi drivers.

The Minister only has to walk around the corner from the building he is in and along St. Stephen's Green to see the long line of taxis and how long they have been waiting there. That is in circumstances where only 20% or 30% of taxi drivers are even on the road. The rest are at home because there is not enough work. If they came out on the road, there would be a queue down to the Aviva Stadium because there is not the work. The lack of work available for drivers is directly related to the businesses the Government is supporting, and which I commend it on supporting, namely, hairdressers, arts venues and so on. While they remain closed or their ability to have custom is on the floor, as it will remain as a result of restrictions, the taxi drivers sitting at taxi ranks will have virtually no work.

On the allowance, I pay tribute to the taxi drivers for their campaigning but I acknowledge that the Government in the budget brought in some means for taxi drivers to earn without losing the PUP. The problem is there is no chance of them even earning €480 on the road at the moment because the work is not there. This is directly related to the closure of all the premises and businesses they are talking about because, to a substantial extent, their livelihood and incomes were dependent on taking people to and from those premises that are closed. They are organically linked to the sorts of businesses the Government wants to support. I urge the Government to include them in that remit. The Minister should accept that for taxi drivers, their car is their premises. It is linked to the counties the Minister is talking about. As the restrictions lift in particular counties, it would be easy to say certain taxis are associated with certain counties so there is no difficulty there. The cost of the premises is not as significant as the cost of a physical premises but these costs are every bit as real for taxi drivers. When there is virtually no income available to them on the road, they still have to make repayments on their car, pay their insurance and, while driving around desperately looking for passengers who are not there, they still have to pay for fuel. It would be a reasonable measure to prevent some of these men and women from going under by including them in the support scheme.