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

This is tricky. I accept that the Bill is a significant advance on what was an anarchic scenario, which was unfair to full-time taxi drivers and which the Government inherited. It was more than legal problems that led a previous Government to deregulation. An ideological bent was pursued, particularly by the Progressive Democrats Party, which Fianna Fáil went along with, where they decided they would just let the market rip. It was disastrous for taxi drivers. The lines of taxi drivers, the numbers of taxis, the frustrated drivers sitting on ranks for hours fighting for inadequate rank space unable to make a living and the terrifying spike among drivers all resulted from that ideological pursuit and the economic crash on top of that. I accept this is a genuine effort by the Minister of State to clean up the industry and regulate it in a way that should improve conditions for taxi drivers. However, they have good cause to say that where some full-time drivers can barely make a living and part-time drivers who have other full-time work can come in and cherry-pick the good work, something has to be done about that. It is not fair and the Bill does not go far enough in this regard.

However, I am slightly queasy about pressing the amendment to a vote. I am not worried about legal considerations because many proposals are shot down on the basis that there will be legal problems but they can be fought in court.

The issue relating to rural Ireland is important. The amendment does not cover it. It should provide that an applicant should not be given a licence if he has a full-time job except in certain specified circumstances where a need is identified. That is probably what it should say. In that circumstance, I cannot press it. However, the Minister of State has to go further on this but I do not know how that can be done.

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