Ms Wendy Thompson:

As Deputy Ellis said, last year we increased the fine for refusing passengers who are using wheelchairs or assistance dogs. We raised it to €250, which is the maximum we can levy under the legislation. We are also looking at the equality legislation, under which we also have a remit, and using one of our own regulations. There has been a marked difference since the fine was increased. Deputy Ellis mentioned dogs. In 2023, we had 19 complaints about refusals to take a dog. In 14 of these cases the driver received a €250 fine. Most of these have been paid. Where they are not paid, they automatically go to a prosecution. When they go to prosecution in the District Court, we rely on what the judge feels about it but we have moved it forward quite substantially.

As Deputy Ellis rightly said, service is the issue now. It is a much more significant issue than penetration. We have a higher number of wheelchair accessible vehicles then most similar jurisdictions. Only Scotland has more than us and this is because of its size and the number of cities. It is at 22%.

Covert and overt compliance activity on wheelchair accessible vehicles has been completed by our own trained personnel. We have repeat complainants. We have developed very good rapport with people who want to use taxis, whether with assistance dogs, in wheelchairs or with other sensory or intellectual problems they wish to work through. The rapport gained with our compliance team is very good. We now have a specialised team that does this work.

In our newsletters to drivers and in all our publicity, they are reminded again and again of their legislative requirements in this regard. This is quite apart from their social duties. Primary legislation makes a priority the carriage of a person with a physical or sensory disability. Drivers must give reasonable assistance to persons entering and alighting. We have followed this up with giving priority to persons who wish to travel in their wheelchairs or who have any other disabilities. These changes have really strengthened our position in the courts.

Disability awareness training by the Irish Wheelchair Association for each driver who gets a grant involves a lived experience. This is very important as some drivers responded in our surveys that they were not quite sure what they should or should not do, the appropriate language to use and what is the appropriate behaviour. This training was introduced as well as practical training. Since January, drivers applying for an SPSV licence must do online training on safeguarding and disability awareness across the board, including those areas on which drivers had come back to us as being reasons they were nervous of picking up people.

Naturally we are getting a lot of our information from despatch operators, from the largest to the smallest, about complaints that are going to them as well. It certainly has assisted people but it is not just the stick; we are very keen that the carrot is there as well. The grants are there so we can get the penetration up to increase the service.