Mr. Der Calnan:

There are two parts to the taxi industry. There is the well managed taxi industry. Many of us own taxi companies. It is our full-time profession and we manage it well. We have many contracts, including Government, Health Service Executive and corporate contracts, for example, with hotels. Imagine modern Ireland without a proper taxi service. People wonder what we do. We deliver packages. I am a Corkman working in Cork city. For those who know the South Mall, we do an amount of work up and down there, and we serve all the hotels, including the new hotels opening in Cork. The service is well managed.

We then have the rural side, which we are talking about today and which does not appear to be as well managed. If one goes down the app route, there will be no management whatever. The driver will be at home and may decide to work for an hour and will log on to see if any work is available. A managed company does not have that problem because it rosters drivers and organises. It knows what bookings are coming up and what flights are coming in and it picks up people. We need to make the licence for rural areas a valuable licence, which people want. We must not flood the place with licences because drivers will not make money and they need to make money to get him, as was stated, to leave the fireside on a wet night when "Coronation Street" is on television. The driver has a schedule. A cute, smart operator will develop a schedule and Mrs. Murphy at the end of the road will know that every Tuesday, between 7 p.m. and 7.30 p.m., Johnny will be working. She will then make the call and visit her sick sister a couple of miles down the road or go to the community centre for a game of cards. I will also mention that there is a pint involved. We will try not to start with that, but that is what one needs. If there is a schedule, the system will work but the driver needs to be rewarded.