Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Amendment No. 10 in the name of Deputy Dessie Ellis has already been discussed with amendment No. 2.

Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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I move amendment No. 10:

In page 35, between lines 36 and 37, to insert the following:“(d) excluding offences covered by the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.”.

Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Amendment No. 11 arises out of committee proceedings and has already been discussed with Amendment No. 2.

Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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I move amendment No. 11:

In page 36, line 2, after "offence" to insert "not covered by the terms of the Good Friday Agreement 1998".

Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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I move amendment No. 12:

In page 37, line 11, after “subsection” to insert “which is not covered by the terms of the Good Friday Agreement 1998”.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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Amendment No. 12 was discussed with amendment No. 2. Is the Deputy pressing the amendment?

Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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Yes.

Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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I move amendment No. 13:

In page 39, line 21, after “convicted” to insert “excluding convictions relating to offences covered by the terms of the Good Friday Agreement 1998”.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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Amendments Nos. 14 and 19 are related and will be discussed together.

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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I move amendment No. 14:

In page 57, line 2, to delete "date the" and substitute "date of the".

Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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I move amendment No. 15:

In page 63, line 5, after "2009." to insert the following:"Any excess income after expenses will where possible be used by way of grant schemes to offset a portion of the cost to licence holders in meeting standards in relation to branding and vehicle conditions.".

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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I cannot accept this amendment.

The National Transport Authority, NTA, is funded from the Exchequer by way of an administration grant and from revenue received relating to fees generated from SPSV licensing activity. Under section 50(4) of the Taxi Regulation Act 2003, as amended by the Public Transport Regulation, PTR, Act 2009, income generated from fees that is surplus to the income necessary to meet the demands of taxi regulation is applied for the purpose of meeting the expenses properly incurred by the authority in the discharge of all its functions under the 2003 Act, the PTR Act 2009 and the Dublin Transport Authority Act 2008.

Section 65 in the Bill will deal with the use of income from fees by the NTA. Section 65(3) of the Bill adequately deals with the matter of how the income is disposed of, that is, "in a manner to be determined by the Authority with the agreement of the Minster and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform." While it is a matter for the NTA in the first instance, I am not persuaded that there is a case for the type of grant scheme envisaged by the Deputy.

Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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There have been a significant amount of extra costs in the taxi sector. There is a charge of €135 for an internal examination, a €50 charge for the NCT test and €500 to €600 for radios, etc. There is also a signage charge of approximately €60. There is a fund that was handed over to the NTA. Some of it goes on administration, but there should be some way of offsetting all of these extra costs. The industry should not be carrying all of these costs and possibly more to come.

While the Minister of State states that it is the NTA that is responsible here, he has enough influence to say that these funds should be spent to alleviate some of the costs. That is why I will press the amendment.

Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael)
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Amendments Nos. 16 and 17 are related and will be discussed together.

Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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I move amendment No. 16:

In page 65, line 24, to delete "small public service vehicle and driver interests" and substitute "single licence holder drivers".

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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I cannot accept these amendments.

The representation of SPSV operators on the Taxi Advisory Committee already provides the flexibility for representation from single and multiple licence holders. These amendments, in my view, do not improve on the current provision in the Bill, which is a restatement of the statute under the Taxi Regulation Act 2003. A broad balance is required on this committee. It is a fine committee, to which, as I stated in a previous contribution, I have added a person to represent those with disabilities. From time to time I have heard commentary from various different representative groups and from Deputy Ellis that not enough single licence holders are on this committee. In order to ensure that this issue is dealt with, there are a number of persons on the committee who are representatives of the taxi sector - as opposed to other groups such as the Competition Authority and the Road Safety Authority - and who are directly involved in the sector. They are Mr. Gerard Macken from the Taxi Alliance of Ireland, who is a single licence holder; Mr. John Ussher, who has been involved in the sector for a long time and is a single licence holder; Mr. Jerry Brennan from the National Irish Taxi Association, formerly the general secretary of SIPTU's taxi branch and a former single licence holder; Mr. Kevin Finn, a single licence holder from Kerry; and Mr. Derek McGovern, representing the Taxi Company Owners' Association, who is the only multiple licence holder. Those are the facts. At that rate, 20% of the representatives are multiple licence holders. In addition, there is Mr. Martin Plummer, a representative of the National Chauffeur Drive Association, which represents the limousine sector. Eighty per cent of those on the advisory committee who are there to represent the industry directly do not come from the multiple licence holder sector.

Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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There are 18 persons on the advisory committee, four of whom represent the taxi drivers. Some of those four represent not only themselves but multiple taxi licence holders.

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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They do not.

Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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Single taxi licence holders do not have enough representation there and I ask the Minister of State to consider looking into that further. They need more representation, and the groups I have met say the same. If there are 16 to 18 persons on the advisory committee, although the different interests represented are good and I welcome their input, the balance is not weighted strongly enough in favour of taxi licence holders. Overall, they deserve a little more representation. It is not enough for the Minister to say that four out of 18 are directly involved in the sector.

Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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I move amendment No. 17:

In page 65, between lines 24 and 25, to insert the following:"(b) at least 1 person representing the interests of the multiple taxi licence holders,".

Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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I move amendment No. 18:

In page 65, between lines 30 and 31, to insert the following:"(f) the chairperson shall be required to attend a special meeting of the responsible Oireachtas Committee at least once every two years from the commencement of this section. All other members of the Advisory Committee shall also be available to attend these special meetings at the request of the Oireachtas Committee who shall set the agenda,".

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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I understand the reason for this amendment, but it is unnecessary. The Oireachtas committees have already the power to invite any person to appear before them. I cannot accept the amendment.

It is the function of the Taxi Advisory Committee to give advice to the National Transport Authority and to the Minister. The NTA is the deciding authority on matters relating to the regulation of the SPSV sector, having considered the advice of the Taxi Advisory Committee. The NTA is accountable to the Oireachtas under the Dublin Transport Authority Act 2008. As there is already adequate provision in statute in this regard, it is neither appropriate nor necessary to make a further such provision in this Bill. As I stated at Committee Stage, the committee is free to invite in the members of the advisory committee, including its chairperson, at any point in time.

Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister for his reply. There have been massive changes and, overall, the Bill is a good one. There are many good ideas in the Bill. However, we are in the early stages of seeing the overall effects of many of these changes, such as the penalty points, and it would be appropriate that the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport and Communications look at this on a regular basis.

I suggested a two-year period. We have not seen the outcomes of many of the decisions. The Minister of State referred to penalty points and those reaching eight points. It remains to be seen whether this will become a problem. There will be other problem areas. I ask the Minister of State to think about allowing the Joint Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport to have an input.

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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I move amendment No. 19:

In page 67, lines 19 and 20, to delete “small public service industry” and substitute “small public service vehicle industry”.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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The Bill which, by virtue of Article 20.2.2^o of the Constitution, is considered to be a Bill initiated in the Dáil will be sent to the Seanad.

Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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If it is still open.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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They might need a few taxis.