Paddy Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In view of the decision by the Cabinet today regarding new licensing hours, which must be legislated for, I ask for an urgent debate on taxis. In my home town, we will eventually have no taxi service if things keep going as they are currently. When a person has a taxi, the plate dies with that person if he or she retires or passes away. The plate cannot be handed over to a son, daughter or other family member and it cannot be sold on or given to anybody. We must remember that those taxi people have built up a business and have built up goodwill. They have the proper vehicles, some of which are wheelchair accessible, but they can do nothing with them other than sell them and close the business down.

In our town, we have a day service but we do not have a night service. The proposed new licensing laws will extend opening times into all hours of the morning but we will have no taxi service to bring people home from the hostelries. There are lots of things wrong with taxi plates and the regulation of taxis. If one gets a new licence, one's vehicle has to be wheelchair accessible but it is not necessary for every taxi to be wheelchair accessible. If taxi drivers buy a new electric vehicle, they can get a grant of €20,000. However, the outlay could be €60,000 and they have to scrap their old car which might only be six or seven years old. These days second-hand cars are worth a considerable amount of money but the old vehicle has to be scrapped, which is ridiculous. I ask that a debate be arranged on this issue at the earliest opportunity.