Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Following on from that, I agree completely with the points made. It is ironic that complaints are now being made that there are not enough taxis, to which the witnesses have responded. All of a sudden people are asking where the taxi drivers are, when nothing has been done to support the drivers and the industry. Indeed, things have been done that have driven people out of the industry and have made it an unattractive option. Would the witnesses say - because I would - that if it follows that the taxi sector should be taken seriously as an integral part of an integrated public transport system that is vital for all sorts of things, including taking people to hospital, serving those with disabilities, getting people to school in certain situations, tourism and all the other roles that drivers play, it would also follow that there should be subsidies for taxi drivers in a properly regulated and run industry? Every other part of public transport is subsidised to ensure that it is there. Should there not be some sort of subsidies as part of a properly regulated industry? Similarly, the absolutely wrong way to go would be to introduce Uber, which is the opposite of that. That is just creating a cowboy situation where we are imperiling the health and safety of the travelling public and showing utter disregard for the people who are seriously providing a proper industry, such as taxi drivers.