John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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177. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the reason that the NTA has not moved to calibrate taxi meters appropriately given that there is an additional bank holiday in 2022 and taxi drivers will be out of pocket as a consequence; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13618/22]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The regulation of the small public service vehicle (SPSV) industry, including the setting of fares, is a matter for the National Transport Authority (NTA) under the provisions of the Taxi Regulation Act 2013.

As the Deputy may be aware, the Government announced a new permanent bank holiday in celebration of St Bridget, which from 2023 will fall on the first Monday in every February.  It is expected that, from that point onward, this new permanent public holiday will be included in future maximum fare orders made by the NTA.

For the current year, however, this new public holiday, which will take place on 18 March, is not included in the current maximum fare order, effective from 15 September 2017.  To address this issue, the NTA has confirmed in a recent announcement that taxi drivers are permitted to charge the Premium Rate to cover the 12 hours' period (08.00 to 20.00) on Friday 18 March 2022. It is understood that the NTA intends placing notices this week in nationwide newspapers and on its website advising the public of this arrangement.  As part of these notices, the NTA will highlight the link to the TFI Taxi Fare Estimator www.transportforireland.ie/fares/taxi-fare-estimator/ to allow people to assess their fare prior to travel.