David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

My first point relates to taxis. I drive a 20 year old car and it is the most immaculate car in the car park both mechanically and every other way. I do not see any reason taxis must be changed when they are nine years old. Can the Minister explain that to me? It makes the whole car test a complete nonsense. If a taxi is tested and it turns out to be mechanically perfect and then it is also tested by the taxi people to see what the inside is like and that is perfect, why can it not stay on the road? It is an absolute imbecility. I ask the Minister to take this up as a matter of urgency.

The final point I would like to make is to ask somebody to have a word with Mr. Keegan, the Dublin city manager. He hates cars; it is a simple as that. To take one example, at Lincoln Place at the back gate to Trinity, there is a complete nonsense in terms of traffic there. It is deliberately calculated to clog up the traffic in a most dangerous way with spikes sticking up out of road. There is one little stretch of 10 yards to turn in; it inhibits the flow of traffic all the way. It is the same in O'Connell street where the footpaths have been squeezed out, there are two traffic lanes but one of them is for buses only and tour buses are parked all the way along the street. When the tour buses come out, the traffic is occluded.It is not appropriate for a city manager to have an anti-car policy in a capital city in Europe.