Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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685. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if under the new taxi licensing laws, where a person holds a licence, he or she does not have the right to pass this onto a family member or other upon retirement but a company may use its collection of licenses as it sees fit with regards to succession, his views on whether this is unfair to individual holders of licences; his plans to remedy same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17386/14]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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Section 14 (1) of the Taxi Regulation Act 2013 prohibits the transfer of a small public service vehicle (SPSV) licence.

Furthermore, where a company holds a licence and there is a change in control of the company as defined in the Act, the licence stands revoked.

The only exception to the prohibition on transfer of a licence arises in the event of the death of a licence holder where a nominated representative of the deceased licensee may become the holder of the licence. The only exception to the revocation of a licence on a change in control of a company is where the change in control arises from the death of a member of the company.

These provisions of the Taxi Regulation Act 2013 were commenced with effect from 6th April 2014. The provisions are fair and balanced and, insofar as practicable, seek to ensure that the prohibition on transfer of licences cannot be circumvented by the use of corporate structures.