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

Since the very outset of this pandemic I have been arguing for specific supports for those sectors disproportionately hit or indeed just closed down by the impact of the pandemic. I reiterate those calls because while some of the supports the Government has bought in have been very good and have kept businesses alive and wages going into people’s pockets, certain groups have not seen the benefit of those supports to the extent they need to.

Next Thursday, I think at 10:30 a.m., the taxi drivers of this city and a number of others will once again be gathering around Leinster House and around the cities to protest about the continued failure of the Government to extend grant supports to them. They will remain in their cars so they will not be breaching the public health regulations. They have, in the estimate of one survey, €11,000 a year in fixed costs, car repayments, insurance, maintenance of the cars and so on. Some, because of the ten-year rule, which has been extended to some extent, still face a cliff edge as they must replace a car in spite of having had no income, or virtually no income, for the past year and a half and very likely very little income for the coming months at least until we are beyond this pandemic. Despite this, they have been excluded from the CRSS and from the Covid-19 business aid scheme, CBAS, and they do not even get the restart grant if they are still on the PUP. It is just not fair. If the Government is giving other businesses support, it must give the taxi drivers grant support so they can survive, cover those costs and not leave them in extreme debt positions and without the money to replace their vehicles when they reach the point where they must replace them.

I should point out that many of them are very willing to move to electric vehicles as part of the move to address climate change but the grants are totally inadequate. They are between €20,000 to €25,000 whereas a new electric vehicle costs about €50,000. How are people who have had no income, or virtually no income, for the past year and a half supposed to be able to buy electric cars? I therefore appeal to the Minister once again on that. By the way, the taxi drivers are having a meeting tonight and most of the relevant Ministers have received invitations to that. Some politicians are going. It will be online and start at 7 p.m. I issue an invitation to the Minister. He needs to hear what 20,000 taxi drivers and their families are going through.

In the remaining 15 seconds let me just shout out for another group - the musicians. Some in the music, entertainment and events industry have benefited from the grant support the Government has given, but again there are a lot of musicians who work out of a van, who do not have a premises and so on. Their incomes have been decimated but they have fixed costs and are not getting the grant support they need.

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