Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I genuinely do not doubt the Senator's sincerity, but I believe he is in a minority of one with regard to some of his views on this. I take on board everybody's views.

To be fair with regard to the points the Senator has made during my four or five visits to this House, I have taken on board some of his comments and we have made a number of changes based on all of the comments made in the Seanad, which is the way it should be. At the end of the day, however, I have a job to do, and that applies to taking on board everyone's views. It would be inappropriate if I did not also take on board the views of those who are acting in the industry. If anything, I get criticised in most cases for not taking them on more than I do.

I also have to take on the views of consumers, whose views are quite clear. After the Senator's soliloquy, I want to make the point that it is quite clear the consumers of this country did not feel the industry was in the position it should have been in during recent years. Anyone who walks down any of the main streets in Dublin on a Saturday night will see an industry that is not fit for purpose and is not at the level it should be at, yet in many parts of the country there is market failure on top of that, with no taxis available.

I inherited an industry that was not at the level it should be at. That is why I set up the committee, why I chaired it myself and why I made all of the recommendations that I made. When I came into the position, the enforcement of regulations was not in place, there was no joined-up thinking in regard to enforcement, the standards were not at the level required and the issues of people with disabilities and wheelchair accessibility had not reached the standard they should have. To be honest, I was not very happy with the standard of knowledge for those who had acquired certain licences, and I have had direct experience of this myself, so it was something we had to deal with. There are concerns in regard to consumer safety and taxi driver safety, and there are also concerns in regard to criminality and fraud, which is why parts of this Bill deal with those issues. That is the simple fact of the matter. These are genuine concerns. The Senator can shrug his shoulders all he wants but that is what people are saying, and it must be accepted.

We have to accept we need an industry which is fair and which can allow a person to make a living. That is an appropriate consideration. There are people working in the industry and they have to be able to make a living in a fair and acceptable manner. I do not necessarily believe that is what existed heretofore.

The Senator referred to the rental market, which is an issue that concerned me. I accept there is a need for the rental market and that will always be the case. Unfortunately, however, the standards and regulations in this regard were simply not acceptable. When I took over as Minister of State, some of what I heard in regard to the rental market was completely unacceptable, which is why the Bill focuses on that space in particular. I believe that by having the proper regulations and following up with the proper enforcement afterwards, and by changing that side of the industry in particular, we will be able to deal with a large majority of the issues we have faced in recent years.