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

Yet again, I have to raise with the Taoiseach the plight of the taxi drivers. The so-called package that was announced by the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, is worth about €300 per taxi driver, given that they have lost many thousands of euro in income in the past year and have carried ongoing costs. It goes nowhere near meeting the demands they made. They met with the Taoiseach and have written to him subsequently, but have received no direct response from him. They want to know whether that is the end of it now. Is that all they are getting? In particular, they are pleading around the issue of the extension of the ten-year rule to something like 15 years. Otherwise, many of these drivers who have lost a year's income and are carrying debts will have to replace their vehicles at the end of this year. They simply will not have the money to do so. Given that billions of euro have rightly been given to other industries, will the Taoiseach tell the taxi drivers that a measure that would actually cost nothing will be agreed? I refer to the extension of the ten-year rule to become a 15-year rule. This would remove a huge burden from their shoulders and would allow them to plan over the coming years while the recovery of their industry remains very uncertain.

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