Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

There are so many sectors coming out of Covid. It is like leaving a machine idle for two years. It is not that taxi drivers were idle, but now that everything has started back up again full tilt, we are finding it is difficult for a variety of sectors to get back. As the Chairman said, the pattern changed during that two-year period. Many older drivers have left. Many of those who previously worked nights are not doing so now. My city of Dublin, as the Chairman said, it had a very large fleet. We had a large number of licensed taxis. It was meeting demand and need. It is now out of kilter and needs to get back into kilter.

It is not just taxis. One of the things we are seeing is that the roll-out of BusConnects routes is allowing for late-night services. We need more public transport services at night. It is not just the taxi industry that should take all the people. One of the issues in the likes of Dublin Airport is that many of the commercial bus services that went to the airport have not come back for a variety of reasons, including the 20% fare reduction discount issue. A complex range of issues is part of this. Deputy O'Rourke is correct that what we are seeing as we come out of Covid is various sectors, such as aviation, the taxi industry and much of construction contracting, are finding it difficult to get staff so many of them are finding it very difficult to ramp back up. We will have to make sure they do in order to provide the service the public demands.