Mr. David McGuinness:

First, I shall reply to Senator Mooney's questions on illegal activities in the industry. Most of the illegal activity happens within the rental sector. Focus should be placed on that sector in order to stamp out illegal activity. The Bill contains a recommendation for closer co-operation between Revenue, the Department of Social Protection and the National Transport Authority which will probably go some way to resolve some of the issues.

The portal was mentioned earlier. If it is to be used properly then a renter of a taxi vehicle would not be allowed to take that vehicle on to the street until the NTA has confirmed that he or she has a PSV licence, for a start, and that he or she is a legitimate drive. Better use of the technology that will enter the industry would also sort out some of the illegal activity.

There should definitely be more enforcement. We have always campaigned for the Garda to be the primary enforcement agency in the taxi sector. There are only seven people for the whole country. We have had many dealings with the enforcement team. Much of the time its members are caught up in clerical work, so they do not spend a great deal of time out on the streets. If the Garda traffic corps was the lead enforcement agency, it would lead to better enforcement.

The vehicle branding is a controversial issue. There is no more information on the vehicle than there is on the roof sign. Our proposals initially were that one's PSV licence number and one's taxi licence number should be combined. That would lead to a slimmed-down version, and the Garda or enforcement agency would only have to check one number rather than two. The issue for taxi drivers is that the vehicle is a private vehicle. With regard to putting the branding on it, one of our members recently had his vehicle damaged when the licence installer installed the branding incorrectly. He failed the SGS test, went back to the branding licence operator and when he took it off, the paint work was removed from the vehicle. Taxi drivers are concerned that it will lead to a devaluation of their private property. There are suggestions of how that can be fixed but I do not believe the country can afford it at present. There could VRT or VAT reduction on taxi cars.

On the branding in general, we initially believed that it would probably be the SGS, where we are licensed, that would install the branding. At present, in Dublin city there are 30 or 40 different people branding the cars, all to different standards. It increases price competition but probably 20% to 30% of the drivers who have got their cars branded since branding was introduced were refused a licence when they went to the SGS, because the branding either had not been installed properly or was of insufficient quality. It is a huge issue within the industry. People are getting the branding done but are still being refused licences.