Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This Taxi Regulation Bill is the most comprehensive piece of legislation for the taxi sector in the history of the State. It replaces the previous 2003 Act, which was produced in a hurry following a court case and ignored by Fianna Fáil for almost ten years. Until now, consumers could not distinguish between taxi drivers adhering to the professional standards and those who did not do so. Drivers who did their business honestly have had to compete with those who cut corners with little chance of being caught by enforcement officers. Such practices have had to be tackled through this Bill.

A report was published with 46 separate actions designed to improve the taxi sector and many of these are coming to fruition through this Bill. The report advocates the embracing of new technology to allow for better enforcement of regulations to make the consumer more confident in the taxi sector. It gives a much stronger legislative basis to deliver real and lasting reform, and it would remove certain categories of criminals from the taxi sector. When the Garda refused to grant a taxi licence, people were able to win an appeal because of flaws in the old legislation. In future, those guilty of certain road traffic offences will lose their taxi licence. The Bill will also allow for convictions in foreign jurisdictions to be taken into account when the courts and the Garda make decisions about the granting of licences.

The Bill will give much greater power of enforcement of taxi regulations to the Garda. There have been just eight enforcement officers trying to police the entire taxi sector but this Bill will allow the National Transport Authority to increase the number of enforcement officers. A demerit system will be created as a type of penalty points system for taxi drivers, so those who repeatedly breach regulations will be suspended for three months. If a driver deliberately takes a customer the wrong way for a longer journey and ends up overcharging the customer, there will be dramatic consequence. There will also be a reforming approach to taxi regulations. Consumers will be able to verify if their drivers are licensed before entering the car. Additionally, there is live data exchange between the National Transport Authority, the Revenue Commissioners and the Department of Social Protection, which will help to tackle fraud.

The Bill will bring an end to transferability of licences when they are traded without control on the open market. An exemption will be put in place to allow people to transfer licences in the event of death to a nominated party. The proposal will bring dramatic improvements in transparency to the rental sector, as many driver representative groups have called for a clean-up of the area.

The Bill will also allow a review of standards for wheelchair accessible vehicles in order to make them more affordable and increase their reliability. The Garda Síochana issues small public service vehicle, SPSV, driver licences and in order to qualify, a person must hold an Irish driving licence or a licence from another EU, EEA or other recognised state. The applicant must produce a current tax clearance certificate and pass the SPSV entry test to obtain the SPSV skills development certificate. This test consists of two parts, with the area knowledge test to verify that a driver has a good knowledge of the county in which he or she intends to operate and an industrial knowledge test to verify that a person understands taxi industry and SPSV regulations. The test is administered by the National Transport Authority and An Garda Síochána must certify that the applicant is a fit and proper person to hold an SPSV driving licence.

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