Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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85. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the reason working taxi licence owners cannot pass on their licence until death; and the proposals to amend this to facilitate transfer of ownership during the lifetime of the owner upon incapacitation or retirement. [10269/23]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The regulation of the small public service vehicle (SPSV) industry including licensing, 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 the Deputy is aware the transfer of licences for SPSVs is, at present, prohibited under section 14(1) of the Taxi Regulation Act, 2013. All SPSV vehicle licences are unique to the person to whom the licence has been issued and cannot be transferred or sold to another person.

In 2011, the Taxi Review Group examined standards and practice in the taxi sector. This Review Group included various stakeholders, such as dispatch operators, drivers, consumers, as well as the regulatory and enforcement agencies. The Review Group considered that it was necessary to move away from a system whereby a licence would have value.  Instead, a licence should determine a person’s suitability to carry out a function and it should not have monetary value or be traded on the open market. Therefore, the current licensing regime is built on this principle. An SPSV licence should simply indicate a person’s suitability to carry out the role of taxi operator, as decided by Revenue, An Garda Síochána and the NTA.

The Advisory Committee on SPSVs sent advice to me on this subject recently which indicates that it is not in favour of reverting to a legal situation which allows for the transferability of SPSV licences. I  have considered the Committee's Report and I accept the Committee's advice that the transferability of SPSV licences should not be allowed, as is currently the position.