Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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Question 2: To ask the Minister for Transport; Tourism and Sport the position regarding the report of the Taxi Industry Review group; and his view on the requirements in terms of legislation to enact its recommendations [1573/12]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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I announced the taxi regulation review on 8 June last in line with the commitment in the programme for Government. The review group, under my chairmanship, completed its report in December last and I have circulated the report to relevant Ministers and their Departments with a view to early consideration of the outcome of the review by the Government. Once the Government has had an opportunity to consider the review, I expect to be in a position to publish it on my Department's website and to outline the Government's response to it.

I thank all those who made submissions to the review group or participated in it. I was heartened by the constructive contributions of many diverse groups with an interest in the taxi industry. The review considered a wide range of issues relating to the taxi sector, including current regulatory policy and practices, licensing systems, enforcement and future dialogue with the taxi sector. I am confident the recommended measures in the review will enable necessary further reforms of the sector to allow consumers to have confidence in the taxi system, while also ensuring legitimate and competent operators and drivers can be rewarded fairly by operating under a regulatory framework that is adequately enforced.

Amendments to primary legislation will be required to implement some of the review proposals, together with secondary legislation that will be the responsibility of the National Transport Authority. I intend to clarify the primary legislative requirements and their timetable in due course.

Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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I am pleased to learn the report has been completed. The Minister of State should study it as quickly as possible before making its contents available to Members. While I made one submission on behalf of my party, many good submissions were made by others. Many taxi drivers feel under pressure and must be reassured that Members are considering the issues they raised. For example, over the Christmas period, it was reported by many taxi drivers that people were using false identity cards to collect passengers and that this practice was widespread. Moreover, for some reason there was no proper management or supervision over the Christmas period and no one was checking to ascertain whether this was happening. Perhaps this was because it was Christmas, but it is unacceptable and should never happen. Other issues arise in respect of taxis and I draw the Minister of State's attention to the fact that while the identification that is displayed on the screens of the taxis is in English on one side, there is no Irish on the other side. It would be a good idea to have bilingual identification on the taxis and the Minister could put this proposal into the mix. I do not believe this has been done previously.

I welcome the Minister of State's intention to release this report. The Joint Committee on Environment, Transport, Culture and the Gaeltacht probably will have sight of the report before anyone else and its members will study it. I look forward to reading it and I certainly hope it will address many of the taxi drivers' concerns.

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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I thank the Deputy for his submission on this matter. The issue of enforcement which he correctly stated is very much addressed in the report and it is one that we must address. We need a new process for enforcement of current and future regulations and changes. That is one of the primary and most important aspects of the report. We need to ensure that rogue traders, those who should not be driving cars, operating in the business and those distributing licences etc., can no longer operate. That is a critical component. We need to make it a profession in which it is worthwhile and financially viable to work. All the measures that will be contained in the report will allow us to ensure this.

On the issue of signage, there will be a number of changes in this area which will be of great benefit to drivers, particularly full-time drivers.

Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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Will the signage be displayed bilingually? That issue was brought to my attention and I do not think it has been mentioned previously.

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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That is an issue that will be addressed in the report.