Written answers

Tuesday, 3 November 2020

Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport

Taxi Licences

Photo of Cormac DevlinCormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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296. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will consider waiving and refunding the annual cost of taxi registration during the Covid-19 pandemic; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32418/20]

Photo of Eamon RyanEamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The National Transport Authority (NTA), the statutory regulator, has since the start of the pandemic taken action to reduce the operating costs for small public service vehicle (SPSV) operators. It has extended vehicle age limits and waived late renewal fees though to March 2021. Furthermore, my Department will provide funding to the NTA to enable it to waive standard SPSV licence renewal fees in 2021.

Photo of Cormac DevlinCormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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297. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will consider introducing a taxi licence buyback scheme to assist drivers who wish to retire from the industry due to the Covid-19 pandemic; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32419/20]

Photo of Eamon RyanEamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The current SPSV licensing regime is built upon the principle that the purpose of a licence is to indicate a person’s suitability to carry out a function and to ensure that the holder of a licence is subject to lawful conditions and restrictions. As such, a licence should not have, by association, a monetary value or be tradable on the open market. Accordingly, there is no basis for a "buy back" scheme of the type the Deputy has outlined.

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