Ned O'Sullivan (Fianna Fail)

The Taxi Regulator's report was published this week. It was an interesting report which would be a useful subject for debate if the Leader could arrange to have the Minister for Transport come to the House. I raise a particular aspect which concerns hackney drivers in rural Ireland. As Members will be aware, hackney drivers operate under a different code of practice from taxi drivers and, as of yesterday, licences are no longer being issued because of the moratorium in place. While one can transfer a taxi licence, there is no provision under the code for the transfer of a hackney licence. That is serious because most hackney businesses in rural Ireland are family businesses in which the owner of the firm is aging and wishes to transfer his licence to either his wife or a member of his family. However, there is no provision to enable him to do this. I cannot understand why that should be the case because no new extra licences would be created. This is very worrying and I ask for a debate on the matter.

I commend the Taoiseach, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the entire Government for the stance they have taken on the recent outrage. They have shown calm leadership and are resolute. They are clear on what they are doing and I am certain they have the support of the entire country.