John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State for her presence. I raised this issue with the Minister for Transport last night. I understand that at short notice he cannot be here, but I would be very much obliged if the Minister of State can convey the importance of this issue, which I know he is aware of. There is going to be industrial action by taxi drivers or as close as they can get to it today either outside at Merrion Square and at the airport on an issue they feel strongly about. I support them on this. I hate to see Dublin city disrupted. I hate to see people who are going about their work, trying to their travel and get home after a busy day disrupted in this way. It is a pity that it has had to escalate this quickly without them being met. The issue is a just issue.

The National Transport Authority, NTA, reviews fares for taxis every two years roughly. Those fares are reviewed and a new fare is brought up relating to the type of car, the cost of the car and those kinds of issues. The NTA arrives at a figure and the taxi meter is recalibrated accordingly. The taxi drivers pay a fee for that. I welcome the apps we all have access to now, including Freenow and Uber, particularly in cities and urban areas. They provide security, a certain amount of predictability and certainty, identification for the drivers and security for vulnerable users and women, especially younger women passengers. They know who their driver is. There is a record kept of the journey. Freenow guesstimates a fare. A person orders a taxi. If he or she wants to go from Rathfarnham to Leinster House, Freenow offers them a guesstimate of how much that will cost, which is useful because passengers the know roughly how much it will cost. They also know that if there is congestion or something like that it is going to cost more than that. Uber wants to move to an accurate fee. If I order a taxi from Knocklyon to Croke Park, it will outline a fare and come what may, it wants me to pay that fare. It means that if the taxi is delayed in traffic or if there are some other circumstances that cause a delay, the taxi driver is not getting paid for that They want to dictate the fare and circumvent the existing agreement that has been arrived at between the NTA and taxi drivers.

At the moment, Freenow has a taxi saver. If I order a taxi, I pay a €3 fee between the time of ordering and the time it takes for the taxi to come to my house. That into account the distance the taxi driver has to travel to arrive. I may cancel. There is time and fuel used. Through this app, the taxi driver gets €3 before the pick-up. However, now the customer can choose not to pay the €3 fee. They can choose a discount to discount the fare by that €3. This is not part of the deal that was negotiated between the NTA and taxi drivers. We can give out sometimes about the cost of them but we all know traditionally that a taxi fare is about time, distance and pick-up cost. What the taxi drivers are justifiably exercised about is that the new system was introduced, if it can be called a system, without the agreement of taxi drivers. It has caused widespread anger within the industry. Taxi drivers feel that is a kind of divide and rule approach. Under this model, Uber pays the lower of the metered fare or the company's preset fixed price. This means that if there are delays, diversions or traffic issues, the driver loses income even though the meter reflects the legally regulated fare. That is the bones of it.

Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Deputy Lahart for raising this important issue and will certainly reflect his observations to the Minister for Transport. The Deputy will be aware that neither the Minister for Transport nor his Department are involved in the day-to-day operation of the small public service vehicle, SPSV, sector. The National Transport Authority, NTA, the independent transport regulator, has responsibility for setting taxi fares under the provisions of the consolidated Taxi Regulation Acts 2013 and 2016.

On 3 November 2025, Uber Ireland introduced a new option on its platform providing its customers with a single maximum price for a trip before requesting a taxi. This option is referred to on the platform as a "tax fixed price”. Usually, when booking a taxi with Uber or other dispatch operators a price range of the approximate cost of the journey is shown, but the Minister understands that with the Uber taxi fixed price option, the customer is now provided with a maximum guaranteed price upfront. If the final price on the taxi meter is less than the initial maximum price provided, users pay the lower price on the meter. If the final price on the taxi meter is greater than the maximum price, users pay the maximum price.

From a legislative perspective, section 24 of the consolidated Taxi Regulation Acts 2013 and 2016 empowers the NTA board to make a maximum fares order fixing the maximum fare that may be charged by the driver of a taxi for any journey. The current maximum fares order took effect in December 2024 and a maximum fare review is carried out approximately every two years. The NTA has conducted these reviews since 2011. Hackneys and limousines agree their fares in advance and do not use a meter. The NTA's most recent fare review was undertaken between November 2023 and March 2024. During this review, the NTA took account of the most significant economic issues that were relevant to the SPSV sector, which included inflation, the cost of living, fuel prices, energy supply, geopolitical uncertainty and increased public transport availability. Following this review and a public consultation on the matter, the NTA introduced the Taxi Regulation (Maximum Fares) Order 2024, which increased taxi fares by an average of 9%. This came into operation on 1 December 2024 and ensures that taxi fares continue to reflect the rising costs associated with operating a taxi in Ireland. This increase includes a special rate for the weekend peak from 12 midnight to 4 a.m. on Friday night into Saturday morning and Saturday night into Sunday morning, year round, to incentivise more drivers to service the night-time economy. This followed on from the 2022 order in which a 12% increase on fares was introduced.

As set out in the legislation, charging more than this maximum fare can lead to a prosecution. However, charging below the maximum fare is permitted. The Minister understands that the Uber fixed price offer does not breach the maximum fare regulatory provisions for taxis or constitute an offence associated with the misuse of taxi meters. SPSV operators are self-employed and may decide whether to sign up with a licensed dispatch operator such as Uber. They are not obliged to be affiliated with any dispatch operator but, where they choose to do so, taxi drivers are free to contract with a dispatch operator of their choice. Unfortunately, neither the Minister nor the NTA is a party to the commercial or contractual arrangements between SPSV drivers and their dispatch operators. Accordingly, the Department and the NTA have no role in the approval of such matters.

John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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The piece of the reply that the Minister of State did not reach states that the Minister for Transport issued a letter to the NTA on 19 November last asking it to clarify the regulatory position on the Uber fixed price fare for the information of taxi operators and public representatives alike. We await that clarification because the taxi drivers who have been in touch with me and with colleagues across the House and who have come to my clinics do not recognise the part of the reply which asserts that there is a maximum price that cannot be exceeded. Their interpretation of this is that if a price of €23 for a journey is sent through the app as a guesstimate, that is what the customer will pay, even if the journey is delayed or diverted, resulting in an increase in the fare. In other words, the taxi driver cannot claim that but the answer the Minister of State has given seems to suggest the opposite. However, it is only referring to Uber. It is not referring to Freenow, for example, another app that is very widely used.

The NTA needs to move very quickly. Another part of the ministerial response states, with reference to the Uber taxi fixed price option, that the Minister understands that the customer is now provided with a maximum guaranteed price upfront. That seems to be the case with one of the apps and while obviously I am in favour of value for money for customers, taxi drivers also need to make a living. Customers are guaranteed a maximum price upfront, and that is fine, but as taxi drivers point out, it does not take into account delays in the journey or other issues.

The Minister is very clear in his reply that neither he nor the NTA is a party to the commercial or contractual arrangements but it is impossible for a taxi driver in Dublin to avoid using the apps now. Otherwise, they will just disappear as taxi drivers, so perhaps the NTA needs to get involved in that. The big piece that is exercising taxi drivers is that this was not negotiated. This has been foisted on them. That is why they are going to be outside the gates at 4.30 p.m. and blocking Dublin Airport as well, creating a bit of a fuss to bring this to the attention of the public.

Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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As I said, I will certainly bring the Deputy's views to the Minister. As Deputy Lahart quite rightly said, the Minister issued a letter on 19 November to the NTA and we await its response. He also met this morning with the advisory committee on SPSVs, whose role is to provide advice to the Minister and the NTA in relation to issues relevant to SPSVs and their drivers, where the matter was discussed. I have no doubt that meeting will have given the Minister cause for concern and perhaps fuller engagement on the issue is needed to see if it can be resolved.