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

If we want to promote the merits of sharing the island, it is not just about initiatives from the top. It is about breaking down division and showing the value of unity and alignment from the bottom. I gave the Taoiseach a concrete example of this a few weeks ago. Taxi drivers affected by the Covid pandemic in the North have been given a financial package of up to £3,000 to deal with overhead costs, insurance costs and all the costs and debts they have built up because of the loss of income incurred by Covid-19.

I asked the Taoiseach, as the taxi drivers have done, to do the same down here.

I understand the Taoiseach met with taxi drivers this week and still the Government, despite vague promises, has committed nothing in terms of a supportive financial package for an industry that has been decimated. As the Taoiseach knows, the taxi drivers will conduct a large drive-by protest at Leinster House tomorrow. The industry has been decimated and taxi drivers have asked for a supportive financial package that is similar to the one available in the North. Let us start aligning North and South in a tangible way that means something to ordinary working people and take our lead from the good example in the North, where a serious financial package was put in place for taxi drivers. Will the Taoiseach do the same for the industry that has been so badly decimated and the taxi drivers affected here, in advance of the protest tomorrow?

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