Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

It is good to be back in the House. I am delighted to have commenced the Bill in this House, as we have held some good debates.

The most substantive of this group of amendments is amendment No. 20, relating to the revocation of licences where there is a change of control of the company holding the licence. While the transfer of a small public service vehicle, SPSV, licence is prohibited under section 14, this restriction is capable of being circumvented where the licence is held in the name of a company rather than an individual by transfer of ownership of the company. Some 929 SPSV licences and just under 23,000 vehicle licences are held by companies, representing some 4%. Provision for the grant of further licences to companies is contained in section 9(7). All applicants for licences are required to meet the suitability requirements set out in section 10, subsection (2)(e) of which contains specific measures relating to the suitability of members of companies.

The two key policy principles underlying the prohibition of transfers are that a licence should not have a value, an idea that I fundamentally believe in, and that a licence should determine a person's suitability to carry out a function. However, where a company that holds a taxi licence is sold, there is a potential to realise a value relating to that licence and there is a possibility of entering the taxi business without the suitability checks envisaged in section 10.

This amendment provides that, upon a change in control of a company that holds a licence, that is, where the person in control of the company changes or there is a change of half or more of its shareholding in one or more transactions, the SPSV licence stands revoked. The exception is where the change in control is as a result of death. Therefore, this new provision ensures parity between all SPSV licenceholders in terms of the prohibition on transferable licences whether a licence is held by a company or an individual.

Amendment No. 1 is a technical amendment. Amendment No. 3 is a consequential drafting amendment. Amendments Nos. 21 to 24, inclusive, and 46 to 51, inclusive, are less substantive or drafting amendments. I ask the Senators to support these amendments.