Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Go raibh maith agat. I will try to cut it down. I congratulate the Minister of State on his appointment. I commend my colleague, Deputy O'Rourke, on bringing this motion forward. I am very disappointed the Government is still pushing forward with its countermotion. I have read it and there is very little of substance whereas the Sinn Féin motion deals with what the taxi drivers actually need to exist and to live. As many people have said, this is financial assistance. More than 20,000 families are affected by this. The taxi drivers have been out of work for seven months with no money but still have bank bills and mortgages and they do not know what is happening. I have been in constant discussion with local taxi and hackney drivers. This morning I found out that the taxi drivers are planning phase 2, so it is not going to go away.

The issue of those aged over 66 and 70 has been raised many times. The Minster of State correctly said they are probably getting the State pension and cannot get a second payment.

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The reason many of these people work as hackney or taxi drivers is they cannot afford to live on a pension and it makes it very difficult. All these people want is a helping hand to survive. It is mentally affecting the families and drivers and obviously there is a knock-on effect from that.

This is a very straightforward motion that appeals to the Government - for crying out loud - to do the right thing and give these people a hand. Many people have been left behind. We are realists and acknowledge there is a pandemic, but this a vital service. In my constituency of Cork East, there is a rural area and an urban area, and in some parts, there is no rural transport. People, especially the elderly, rely on these taxi and hackney services, even to get to the post office, given that many post offices have left villages so people have to travel to towns. I appeal to the Minister of State and the Government to consider this, to withdraw its countermotion and to do the right thing for the taxi industry. Otherwise, taxi drivers will back here in a number of weeks. Families are being hurt badly.

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