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

I have spoken out repeatedly on behalf of taxi drivers since the Covid pandemic began and their industry was decimated. Before I ask my specific questions, the Taoiseach should understand just what a fantastic service the 26,000 taxi drivers provide. The National Transport Authority, NTA, reported today that of 40 million taxi journeys last year, there were just under 1,000 complaints. That means the percentage of complaints per journey is 0.000025%. I just did that on my calculator. It is an extraordinary figure. I do not think there is any other service about which there are so few complaints out of that vast volume of journeys. However, the Government has effectively abandoned taxi drivers when they are on their knees.

The Covid restrictions support scheme, CRSS, and grants being provided to businesses hit by the pandemic are being denied to taxi drivers because they do not have a rateable premises. That is completely unfair when the taxi drivers are carrying anywhere between €6,000 and €11,000 in ongoing fixed costs, yet the Government is denying them the grant support they need. The one grant for which they can apply, the restart grant, comes to a miserable €1,000 and the taxi drivers have to sign off the PUP to get it, which is absolutely disgraceful. The electric accessible scheme that the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, is talking about setting up will only be available if a person scraps his or her car, which means the vast majority of taxi drivers will not be able to get it

The NTA suggested today that we need to issue more taxi licences when, in fact, by a significant margin,there is not enough work to go around for the taxi drivers who are currently on their knees. I ask the Taoiseach to look into these matters and give real support to the taxi industry and taxi drivers.

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