Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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265. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform when the Office of Government Procurement will advance the Programme for A Partnership Government commitment to introduce a provision by which taxi companies that wish to bid for State procurement contracts must ensure a minimum of 10% of their fleet is wheelchair accessible. [54072/18]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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My colleague, the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport and National Transport Authority (NTA) have primary responsibility for meeting this commitment. Recognising the prevailing market structure for taxi services is central to this issue as there are no large unitary fleet operators who can easily be compelled to meet such a requirement. I understand that the NTA (a) continue to fund a programme of grants to increase the level of wheelchair accessible, and (b) the vehicle specification to qualify as a wheelchair-accessible taxi has been amended to reduce the level of investment required by individual taxi operators in order to comply.

The Office of Government Procurement (OGP) has undertaken the responsibility for the procurement of many state funded taxi services in recent years and engages with the NTA on an ongoing basis in this regard. The OGP ensures that appropriate accessibility criteria are included in tenders for taxi services.

Having regard to the above, the OGP established a Framework Agreement for the provision of taxi services in the Greater Dublin Area in September 2018. The tender competition to establish this Framework was designed to encourage participation on a fair and equal basis by Small and Medium Enterprises (SME’s) together with addressing the Programme for Government commitment.