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

I want to signal this and follow the debate and the discussion. I will not pre-empt the matter, but persons who I believe have credibility state there was a problem. Probably for historical reasons as well as historical failures, there is a significant lack of confidence in the authorities and the regulatory regime. The Minister of State must go out of his way to be inclusive, in terms of all of these groups and in trying to take on their concerns.

In that regard, one immediate issue which does not relate directly to the legislation are the proposals resulting from the new construction works on the Luas in St. Stephen's Green, O'Connell Street and Foster Place. The drivers have told me that, if there are unilateral moves to remove ranks from these areas related to the Luas works, there will be murder and the Government had better get its act together and engage with the taxi drivers on this or it will have a crisis on its hands. The taxi drivers understand the works must be done but they want serious consultation about how they will be accommodated.

This issue of ranks is a big problem, both in the city and in suburban areas. I encountered the problem in Dún Laoghaire and elsewhere, and it is a serious problem. The lack of rank space is leading to taxi drivers getting penalty points because they are not on rank space, rather they are queuing to get onto a rank. For this they are getting penalty points, and if they get eight penalty points, they are disqualified, even though none of it is the taxi driver's fault. These are serious issues that need to be addressed and the starting point for addressing them is real consultation with all the groups in an inclusive process where the taxi drivers have genuine confidence that their views are being listened to.

The key matter is proper and effective regulation to deal with rogue drivers, non-compliant drivers, unsafe drivers and so on. On one of the important proposals, the NPHTA stated that it is vital that plate, car and insurance are all in the one name, and this will be at the centre of having an effective regulatory regime. The association states that if one does not have that, a driver may have a licence and may be able to show his or her insurance, but the insurance is not insurance for the car in question because one cannot insure somebody else's car. It needs to be one package and that the driver is registered to that car. There should be one package of plate, car and insurance all in one name. This would resolve many of the problems of rogue drivers.

The association also states that the branding issue is problematic because already one can go to five or six locations in Dublin to get forged versions of the green branding that has been put on the side of taxis. It is not effective. The association has proposed alternatives. There may need to be debate and discussion about how this could be done and made more workable. I think it was proposing particularly items that would be put on the roof-signs which would identify taxis properly. There needs to be engagement on this issue because if those green brands are being forged, one can see fairly quickly how ineffective it will be.

The association also states the smartphone application is a very good idea and is hopeful about it. The effectiveness of this application, which allows NTA officials or gardaí to check whether a driver is properly registered, licensed, insured and so on, has been diluted by giving a 24-hour breathing space in which the information about a driver's compliance can come up on it. In other words, instead of being able to check the application and find out there and then whether there is information on it about proper registration and compliance, the position is that the information cannot come up but one is told it must be put up within 24 hours, which means those who are not insured and registered to drive a particular car can get it done retrospectively, allowing abuse to continue. The association states that the dilution by allowing a 24-hour breathing space must be removed.

The other big issue is the issue of transferability and inheritance rights. Here the drivers state that, as has been mentioned, the requirement that the car be not less than three years old will mean that transferability is not possible between family members or persons working in a small family business.

There should be inheritance rights for the entire package without a three-year restriction, which could mean that family members, on the death of somebody working a taxi, would not be able to inherit a small family business.

With regard to double-jobbing, I underline the point that it is not just about people driving but anybody who works. There are EU work time directives coming into play regarding hours which are safe to work. If a person is working for eight hours in any job, such as teaching, working in a council, driving a bus or working in a factory before going out to drive at night, it would be a real problem. A person who works too long is not safe as a driver, and the issue must be addressed urgently. I am not underestimating the difficulty of addressing what is a complex issue but it should be tackled. There must be a level playing field. People may have part-time jobs when on low income, and in such cases it would be legitimate for them to work in a taxi but there must be health and safety regulations which should be stringently adhered to.

There is also the enforcement issue, as it is not good enough just to have regulations. For example, over two hours a checkpoint was put on Dame Street to check compliance rates by taxi drivers and in that period 19 drivers were found to be non-compliant with regulations. That suggests widespread non-compliance in the industry, which is driving full-time taxi drivers demented. They want assurance that these issues will be addressed in legislation to allow for a level playing field and proper regulation and enforcement in the industry so that everybody has a chance to make a living and undo the damage that Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats did to the industry.

See this speech in context