Mr. Alan Cooley:

I thank the Chairman and committee members for the invitation to speak here today. My name is Alan Cooley and I am the president of the Irish Taxi Drivers Federation. I am joined by Mr. Philip Egan, our secretary, Mr. Des Dempsey, our assistant secretary, and Mr. James Maguire, our airport representative. We are grateful for the opportunity to appear before the committee to share our views on the taxi industry. The main points we wish to discuss today are the extension of the nine-year rule, the transfer of taxi licences, credit cards, the lack of suitability centres across the country, and the Uber situation in Ireland.