John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I ask the Chairman to signal when there is two minutes left. I am always happy to meet with representatives of the NTA. I thank them for their public service. I want to raise a number of issues. I raised one of these with the deputy chief executive outside. We are going to follow up on that. It related to buses in the constituency. I thank him for his commitment on that. I will leave the question of BusConnects and additional routes for that meeting.

I have a question on taxis for both the CEO and the deputy CEO. I do not believe taxi drivers and organisations are of the view that the NTA is on their side and is protecting them. There is obviously a dearth of taxis at the moment. Will the witnesses briefly outline the impact of the Covid pandemic because it is clear that many taxis did not return? Coming home from Croke Park the other night, I hailed a taxi and then had to hail a second taxi. The driver would only take cash, by the way. I only had plastic on me. The witnesses might comment on that. As a punter and a real supporter of taxis as public transport, I find that unacceptable. I also want to represent very strongly the concerns and anxiety of taxi drivers, particularly with regard to what are known internationally as ride-sharing services. The most popular of these is Uber. These are not regulated. Given the shortage of taxis, which has a significant impact on consumers travelling in and out of cities from a safety perspective, without mentioning the movement perspective, I would hope that the NTA shares my view that this is not something we should enter into with our eyes shut. Taxis are regulated. There is a certain amount of vetting and other things that people have to go through. New apps allow people to know who the driver is and provide a record of the journey for them and for the driver, which provides security for people who might feel vulnerable using this aspect of public transport.

What are the NTA's plans around the shortage of taxis? I am not sure that I favour the ride-sharing model. It is a kind of free-for-all thing. On the ten-year element, in the past two years of Covid when I have requested assistance or remuneration for taxi drivers I have found the NTA challenging enough to deal with in that respect and in communication. The NTA has the right and entitlement to rebut that. That was the kind of feeling I had. It was very difficult to get answers from the NTA and particularly around taxi concerns.

I took a taxi recently. The taxi driver had bought a brand-new electric car. It is not hybrid, it was just electric. The taxi driver was sharing it with another member of the family. He said, "We are guinea pigs and it is running 24 hours a day." It is saving them €250 per month. The drivers are very pro that and they are very thankful and grateful for the considerable grant but they did have to top it up with a credit union loan. I have made this point previously in the Dáil Chamber and it applies also to many energy and retrofitting schemes, including much that is in the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, space. The taxi driver told me that they went to the garage they purchased the car from. Say, for example, the car cost €50,000 and with the grant it cost €30,000: €50,000 is unaffordable to them but €30,000 might have been affordable. The garage charged them €30,000 for the car and the garage pursued the grant. I do not believe it is widely known that this is allowable. Suddenly it makes a new electric car much more affordable because a person can pay for it without the grant included. It can reduce the price for an electric car for taxi driving from €40,000 to €28,000 or from €50,000 to €30,000. Is that practice widespread? Clearly, it is allowed. Has it been advertised among taxi drivers that if they have X amount they do not need to borrow it and that the garage will pursue the grant? It makes it much more affordable for taxi drivers. I would welcome the NTA's comments on that.

My next question is, very respectfully, directed at the Chairman. For a number of months the metro to south-west group has sought a brief meeting with the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport and Communications. The group represents close to 40 residents associations. The group wants to make a short 30 minute pitch. They made a pitch to Oireachtas Members in the audio visual room, which was facilitated by Senator Seery Kearney. They also made a pitch to the Fianna Fáil parliamentary group for Dublin. They just keep getting acknowledgements but time is running out. I appeal to the Chairman's very good nature to facilitate this if possible before that the Dáil recess. It is actually coming to a critical time. They all know that a metro to south-west is not going to be built tomorrow, and that some of them will never see the sod turned on it. As a strategic piece of infrastructure they, and I as their public representative, want the National Transport Authority to look at it and take them more seriously. They have built up quite a body of work on this and especially around where the metro coming from the north will stop in the city. The committee is familiar with this. The group's argument is that it goes on to Charlemont and then there is the possibility of it turning south west and serving areas such as Rathmines, Harold's Cross, Terenure, Templeogue, Rathfarnham, Knocklyon, Firhouse and maybe connecting with Tallaght; it becomes a forlorn prospect because of the direction of the boring machine. There are plenty of issues on the table. Will the Chairman be able to respond to that request?