Cyprian Brady (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State and I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Bill. I have a personal interest in the Bill, as my late father spent almost 30 years, which was a large proportion of his working life, in the taxi industry.

The vast majority of taxi drivers are decent, hard-working and well-mannered people. The taxi profession has provided a good and efficient service over the years. It propped up a failing public transport system until the late 1970s and early 1980s. The service became inadequate, however, as a consequence of a number of factors, many of which were unforeseen. This decline was not the fault of the industry, for the most part, and many people would attribute it to the regulation of the industry in 1978. Some of the many factors that need to be considered include huge increases in the population and the number of cars on the road.

Stories of waiting times of two or three hours, particularly at peak times such as Christmas, were heard for many years. There were difficulties in getting a cab at night and at weekends. Although studies were conducted and recommendations were made, there was no improvement in the service. At a time when there were less than 2,000 taxis in Dublin city, it was recommended that the optimum number of taxis required for the city was 4,500. After much discussion and a great deal of agitation, there was a famous High Court case which, in the Minister's words, blew the industry apart. The taxi industry has been blown apart since deregulation. The number of plates on the road has exploded from 4,000 to almost 12,000 and standards have dropped dramatically. A number of issues must be tackled as a matter of urgency. The Bill is the first step towards creating a taxi service of which the industry and consumers can be proud.