Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Monday, 16 November 2020

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach

Finance Bill 2020: Committee Stage

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

I have made my case. I will not drag the matter out, but I want the Minister to think seriously about what I said. Many of the arguments I made on behalf of taxi drivers were against a background where it looked as if things were reopening, restrictions were lifting and, while work would be reduced significantly as long as there were any restrictions, there was some prospect of the industry beginning to operate at some level, albeit probably on a massively reduced basis. Now, however, business has decreased to nothing but those costs are still there. I really do not see why taxi drivers should be put in a different category from the businesses the Minister is trying to support. It seems that they tick all the boxes of those he is seeking to support, with the only difference being that their premises is a car, but it is their business premises.

I do not think it would cost very much to support them. If a taxi driver's weekly turnover was €500 or €600 in 2019 and has been reduced to €150 or less, to give him or her 10% of last year's weekly turnover, at €50 or €60, it would make a big difference to the taxi driver and I do not think it would make a significant difference to the cost of the scheme. I ask the Minister to consider it because the welcome changes in the PUP will just not make a difference with the current level of restrictions and the other grand schemes that have been made available to small and medium business are not benefiting them. The only one they can apply for is the restart grant, and even then, there are limitations to being able to apply for it and, when someone goes from being unemployed to being back to work, €1,000 is nothing compared with the costs they are carrying.

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