Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We will all try not to rehash statements about the importance of taxi drivers. That is accepted. They are necessary from the point of view of education, hospitals, work and trips, as we heard. We all know what work taxi drivers have done over many years and the issues that arose with supports, in particular during the Covid period. Some of the issues mentioned are long running and still have not been addressed.

The problem for the outside world is that there are not enough taxi drivers when people want a taxi. Mr. Waldron spoke about the issues drivers face, including high costs and the ten-year rule. Safety and security seem to be a major issue, in particular for the small number of drivers who are wiling to work after 12 midnight. What would a fit-for-purpose EV grant scheme look like? We all thought there would be some leeway, in particular during Covid, on the age-of-car rule, but there has not been a huge amount of give in regard to that. What would be a fair ask in that regard to put into the public domain?