Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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374. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality further to Parliamentary Question No. 322 of 15 April 2015, if she will provide an update on the Garda Síochána report she commissioned. [24825/15]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I can inform the Deputy that I recently received the report referred to from the Garda authorities. The position is that where an application for the grant of a public service vehicle licence is made, the Commissioner may, subject to the provisions of the Road Traffic (Public Service Vehicles) (Licensing) Regulations S.I. 292 of 1978, grant a licence in respect of a vehicle to which these Regulations apply to the owner of the vehicle. Article 6(4) of the Regulations states, inter alia, that the Commissioner shall not grant a public service vehicle licence unless she is satisfied that the vehicle is safe for the carriage of passengers. I am advised that in this instance the vehicle was deemed not safe for the carriage of passengers due to the use of a single sliding door as being the only accessible door to the majority of passengers, and that in the event of an emergency, such a single door might not provide appropriate and adequate egress from the vehicle.

The Deputy will appreciate that I have no function in relation to the assessment of such applications, which is a matter for the Commissioner under the Regulations referred to.