Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Minister of State, Deputy Sean Fleming, on his appointment and wish him well in his new role. It is very hard for ordinary people to grasp what is going on at present. First, it is Government policy to tell us to use public transport. Then it is advertising telling us to use only 50% of it or not to use it at all if we can do so. Taxis are needed and are not being supported. Many taxis in Killarney and Tralee are not working at all; they have no work. Nightclubs are closed and there are no tourists around. They just do not have work and are at their wits’ end as to how to continue. Bills are coming in for insurance, licences and different things. Hackneys in rural places like Kilgarvan and Kenmare are vital to people who do not have cars but they are struggling to hold on to their licences. Only for the fact that some of them have some other part-time work or are part-time farmers, they would not survive at all. I am appealing to the Government to do something for them.

The first and the easiest thing to do is to extend the ten-year rule to 15 years. Their cars are tested so much. Taxi and hackney drivers keep their cars well in any event. Can this ten-year rule be lifted and can taxis and hackneys be given another five years because this makes sense? Can some kind of financial support be given to them also? I know that the Government is under pressure. Every other sector is being looked after but hackneys and taxis are not. I am appealing to the Minister of State because they are a vital cog in our communities.

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