Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The introduction of a prohibition of transfer of the SPSV licence is a recommendation under action 14 of the taxi regulation review report 2011. The underlying principle for this proposal is that a licence should determine a person's suitability to carry out the function and should have no monetary value or be traded in the open market. The Senator and I are in agreement on that point. I dealt comprehensively with this issue on Committee Stage. I will not be accepting the Senators' amendment as it asks me to go against the unanimous views of the taxi review group which recommended this action on the transfer of SPSV licences and to ensure it did not happen. A licence should be personal to the licence-holder. They should be awarded on the grounds of suitability and not on the basis of having bought out an incumbent operator. The taxi review group insisted on this provision and we dealt with it in great detail. In my view it is the way to create an industry that operates with consistency and regulation.