Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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78. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the reason that taxi and hackney vehicles are subject to maximum age limit rules; if his attention has been drawn to issues impacting taxi and hackney drivers following the instatement of maximum age limit rules (details supplied); and if his Department plans to assist given that the likely outcome is for some drivers to become unemployed. [46871/22]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The regulation of the small public service vehicle (SPSV) industry, including vehicle age limits for SPSVs , is a matter for the independent transport regulator, the National Transport Authority (NTA), under the provisions of the Taxi Regulation Acts 2013 and 2016. As such, the NTA has powers to make regulations in relation to the age limits of SPSVs.

Regulations made by the NTA in 2010 first established an age limit of less than 10 years old for new standard taxis and hackneys. The ten-year rule was adopted in recognition of the need to strike a balance between achieving standards that offer the customer confidence, comfort and safety, and allowing industry members to operate successfully.

I would note that the Irish 10 year rule for standard taxis and hackneys is not particularly onerous by comparison with other jurisdictions.

Wheelchair accessible taxis and hackneys are permitted to operate up to 15 years of age. No maximum permissible age is prescribed for limousines in recognition of both the vintage nature of many of these vehicles and their generally reduced mileage.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, standard age limits for taxis and hackneys were extended on several occasions, and are currently extended through to the end of 2022. This change helped ensure no operator exited the industry simply because of the need to replace a vehicle.

Within the last month a series of global circumstances has, in the NTA’s view, considerably worsened the capability of taxi and hackney licence holders to secure new vehicles, with lead times of one year not uncommon already. Therefore the NTA have recently proposed to temporarily extend the maximum permissible age for taxis and hackneys with a current final operation date in 2023 and 2024, such that no current vehicle licence holder is forced out of the industry because a replacement vehicle cannot be purchased.

The NTA have opened a public consultation on this proposal on 19 September 2022, and will run until 12 October 2022. Details and submission forms are available on the NTA website.

At the same time, there continue to be supports available to drivers who wish to change their vehicles.

These supports include:

- The eSPSV Grant Scheme to which I allocated €15m toward this year alone and which supports drivers in their transition to zero / low emission vehicles.

- The eSPSV Business Loan provided by Microfinance Ireland to support those SPSV owners accessing the eSPSV Grant Scheme but who are unable to secure finance from financial institutions.