Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 254: To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if, in view of the recently published report of the review group on taxi regulation, he will allow for taxi licences to be transferred to family members on retirement of the licence holder; if there will be a set retirement age for taxi drivers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13051/12]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The regulation of the taxi industry, including issues pertaining to the renewal and transfer of vehicle licences, is a matter for the National Transport Authority (NTA) under the provisions of the Public Transport Regulation Act 2009.

Currently, certain categories of SPSV vehicle licences are non-transferable, meaning they are individual to the person to whom they are issued and cannot be sold to a different person. A similar arrangement exists for taxi licences issued since January 2009. It was considered by the Review Group that it was necessary to move away from a system whereby a licence will have value in itself - a licence should determine a person's suitability to carry out a function and it should not have monetary value or be traded on the open market. An anomaly exists in that taxi licences issued prior to 1 January 2009 can be sold or transferred on one occasion. The Review Group agreed to introduce a prohibition on the transferability of taxi vehicle licences such that after 1 October 2012 all taxi vehicle licences will be unique to the person to whom the licence has been issued and cannot be transferred or sold to another individual.

The Taxi Regulation Act 2003 does not provide a basis for the application of a set retirement age. SPSV driver licensing is currently the responsibility of the Garda Commissioner. An applicant must satisfy the Gardaí that he/she is a fit and proper person to hold a licence and has not been convicted of an offence that would render him/her unsuitable to hold such a licence. I will arrange for your correspondence to be forwarded to the NTA for any additional information the NTA considers appropriate. If the Deputy does not receive a reply within ten working days will he please notify my private office.