Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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204. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport whether there are any plans to introduce a ‘buy-back scheme’ for taxi plates. [46883/24]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The regulation of the small public service vehicle (SPSV) industry, including SPSV licensing, is a matter for the independent transport regulator, the National Transport Authority (NTA), under the provisions of the Consolidated Taxi Regulation Act 2013 and 2016. I have no role in the day-to-day operations of the SPSV industry.

Section 14 of the Taxi Regulation Act prohibits the transfer of SPSV licences. This stemmed from the Taxi Regulation Review 2011 where it was concluded that a licence should determine a person's suitability to carry out a function and it should not have a monetary value or be traded on the open market. As such, the current SPSV licensing regime ensures that the holder of a licence is subject to lawful conditions and restrictions.

As quantitative restrictions, which led to an undersupply of SPSVs in the past, have been removed from the taxi market and there are no barriers to entry to this industry - other than the obligation to use a wheelchair accessible vehicle (WAV) - it is not clear how a 'buy-back scheme' would deliver benefits to the industry, or members of the public that use these services, especially those who require access to WAVs. Accordingly, no consideration is being given to the introduction of a "buy back" scheme as suggested by the Deputy.