Seanad debates

Monday, 5 July 2021

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business

 

10:30 am

Photo of Mary Seery KearneyMary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We received a submission this morning from the National Taxi Forum requesting we discuss the plight of taxi drivers. I am in regular contact with a group and with one of my constituents, Peter Jarvis. Those in the group have said there are few if any international travellers and little if any shopping or social life. Everything that would have provided support for taxi drivers is gone. While we have provided them with the pandemic unemployment payment, and that has been a lifeline and has been very much acknowledged in the submission from the National Taxi Forum, the potential of the industry to recover is not like that of other industries. There has been grant aid but we need to do more. I would like a debate in this House regarding their plight.

A number of things could be done. The first is to acknowledge that while taxi drivers come under the remit of the Department of Transport, and that makes sense, these are vehicle-based small businesses. Each one of the drivers operates as a small business. Every one of these individuals is supporting their family and home and running their operation as a sole trader. They work the hours they operate to do that. If we were to run the employment test we would do that on the basis of they being sole traders. They would satisfy that test.

We need an extension to the ten-year rule. While there is a need to change the fleet, we could make the requirement for drivers to replace their vehicles inextricably linked with replacing them not only with wheelchair accessible vehicles but with electric vehicles. We need to freeze the number of taxi licences being granted. While the State is supporting taxi drivers with the pandemic unemployment payment, it seems ridiculous we are admitting more people into the industry. There is a failure on the part of the Minister to engage in the context that the industry is currently not financially viable. We need a debate on this issue as soon as possible.

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