Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank my friend, Senator Pat O'Neill, for the proposal to debate it on Report Stage. The phrase "for different circumstances" is too wide. The Minister of State clarified the issue and I will support him if he wishes, but I do not know what a court case would make of "in different circumstances". Although I do not have photographic recall, the formulation of words provided by the Minister of State sounded better than what is set down in the Bill. Perhaps he might think of that on Report Stage. In respect of paragraph (c) for different areas of the State, that system was tried and failed. Suppose somebody makes a case to the Minister or the NTA that county X needs special consideration, and if the licence is granted for county X, it will cater for all the problems mentioned by Senator O'Neill. Before long, however, the holder of that licence will have a monopoly on it and it then becomes an obstacle to further progress. That is what happened from 1977 until 2000 and eventually the courts threw them out.

Rather than create local monopolies to solve a shortage of supply of transport in certain areas, I would prefer to have open competitive tendering rather than give somebody a licence and shut out everybody else. The reintroduction of area licences, on reflection, is something we would all agree did not work the last time. It is extremely bad to think of reintroducing it and it will create a value for the licence and piece of paper again. It provides an inferior service as all of the studies show when area licensing is introduced. That is why there was such a wave of public opinion through the judges and the courts; I sat in on some of the court cases. People got fed up because the monopolistic practices of the taxi industry led to an inferior service and restricted developments in other parts of the economy.

I do not know who in the Department has become converted back to different area licensing systems in different areas of the State, but I hope they reconsider. When a national licensing system is in place, people can move. The country is not very big, it is connected up by motorways and people can see a gap in the market and open up their business there. Why it should be part of the restrictive licensing system escapes me and it is contrary to our experience and the Minister of State's undertaking not to reintroduce quantity licensing. It contradicts the High Court judgments as well. This is a country where the entire industry was deregulated by two High Court decisions. One cannot differentiate in that way. To encourage supply one would probably have to go the subsidy route rather than the licensing route.