Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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199. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the membership of the taxi advisory council; the number of vacancies at present; the method and expected timeline by which they will be filled; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40437/20]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The Advisory Committee on Small Public Service Vehicles, sometimes known as the Taxi Advisory Committee, has a statutory duty to advise the Minister and the National Transport Authority (NTA) on issues relevant to small public service vehicles (SPSVs) and their drivers. There are currently five vacancies on the Advisory Committee some of which, as the Deputy may be aware, have been carried since a competition in 2019 organised by the Public Appointments Service failed to attract a sufficient number of qualified applicants.

The Advisory Committee has played an important role in providing advice on how best to support the SPSV industry through this difficult time. A real strength of the Advisory Committee is that it enjoys a broad membership with members representing driver interests, dispatch operators, passenger interests, and official stakeholders such as Local Government and An Garda Síochána. Its recommendations have led to measures to support the industry such as the waiver of SPSV licence renewal fees for 2021 and the NTA's current proposal to further extend vehicle age limits to the end of 2021. Given that valuable contribution I am eager to fill these vacancies to ensure that the Advisory Committee features a full complement of driver and other representatives.

I recently met with the Advisory Committee on SPSVs as well as with delegates from four taxi representative groups. In those meetings I stressed the importance of the Advisory Committee and the important role it plays, particularly in this critical time. I have also consulted the NTA and asked them to work with driver representatives and consider the best approach to filling these vacancies to ensure that the Advisory Committee features strong and effective representation for taxi drivers, limousine chauffeurs, and hackney drivers. This includes consideration of how best to ensure appropriate urban and rural driver representation. I look forward to finalising the approach to filling these vacancies on foot of the outcome of this work.

I attach here a table outlining the current membership of the Committee: