Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I support this amendment. It would appear that the number of wheelchair-accessible taxis is reducing. In the past, the Government provided grants to taxi drivers to provide wheelchair-accessible services. I also have concerns about those organisations with charitable status which are undercutting taxi drivers. In my opinion, they are abusing their position and that should be examined immediately.

The Minister of State spoke about the fact that he was considering introducing wheelchair-accessible taxis at some point in the future. I ask him to outline his plan in that regard because it certainly seems to be the case that the number of wheelchair-accessible taxis on the road is reducing. There is a very good reason for that. It is much more convenient for drivers to pick up people without having to convert their cars. We need to address this issue.

I have a question regarding moneys raised from the taxi industry. The NTA received money from the industry. I ask the Minister of State to provide the figure because some people have told me that it is in the tens of millions. I do not know if that is the case and am asking the Minister of State to clarify that point. Can any of that money be used for wheelchair-accessible taxis? I know some of the money is given to local authorities to provide parking spaces and so forth but could some of it be used to assist in the delivery of more wheelchair-accessible vehicles?

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