Anthony Lawlor (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 186: To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the progress made to date regarding the taxi review to deal with short term and medium term measures to tackle tax and social welfare non compliance and illegal operations; if enhanced cooperation between the National Transport Authority, the Department of Social Protection and the Revenue Commissioners has taken place; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28697/12]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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The National Transport Authority (NTA) has responsibility for the regulation of the taxi industry under the Taxi Regulation Act, 2003 and is also the lead agency with responsibility for implementation of the recommendations of the Taxi Regulation Review Report.

I understand from the NTA that work is progressing on all 46 Actions proposed and eight of the short-term actions have been implemented to date. Delivery of the actions concerning the enhanced level of information and data exchange between the NTA, the Department of Social Protection and the Revenue Commissioners has been completed. In addition, the collaboration between the Garda Síochána and the NTA has been strengthened towards more effective 'on-street' and a greater level of 'off-street' compliance and enforcement as proposed under action 24 of the Review Report.

The timetable for implementation of the remaining actions is set out in the Review Report with short-term actions to be implemented this year and medium-term actions to be implemented after 2012. The NTA makes quarterly reports on progress to the Taxi Advisory Committee which includes representation from the key stakeholder groups including representatives of consumer interests and the taxi industry.