Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)

Officials of my Department recently met representatives of several different organisations representing taxi interests. They set out the concerns of their members relating to the taxi industry including, in particular, in relation to taxi numbers. The taxi representative bodies were encouraged by the officials to participate fully within the advisory and consultative structures provided for under the Taxi Regulation Act 2003 to ensure that their views, including those in relation to the economic review of the sector, are taken into account by the Commission for Taxi Regulation, which is the agency charged under law with the regulation of the taxi industry.

The Taxi Regulation Act 2003 does not provide for a moratorium on taxi numbers and the recent economic review concluded that a moratorium is not warranted. The Commission for Taxi Regulation has recently completed a major public consultation on the economic review and is currently preparing proposals for the further development of the taxi industry for consideration by its Advisory Council. I understand the commission expects to finalise its development proposals in August.

I will consider the outcome of this work, the views of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport and the views of the representatives of the taxi industry, consumers and consumer interest groups insofar as they relate to my statutory responsibilities.

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