Ms Anne Graham:

There are a number of different questions there. The Deputy asked if we set an optimum number in terms of the availability of taxis in an urban region such as Dublin. We do not set a cap on that but we compare ourselves and the numbers of available SPSVs per capitaboth in Ireland and in Dublin. For all of Ireland there are 3.7 SPSVs per 1,000 population. That far exceeds the number for most countries in Europe. The average number of SPSVs in western Europe is 1.3 SPSVs per 1,000 population. Only in the UK is it more than that at 4.4 SPSVs per 1,000 population.