Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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169. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his plans to ensure that there is a new licence in place for taxis to operate in rural Ireland. [2496/25]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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The regulation of the small public service vehicle (SPSV) industry, is a matter for the independent transport regulator, the National Transport Authority (NTA), under the provisions of the Consolidated Taxi Regulation Acts 2013 and 2016. I have no role in the day-to-day operations of the SPSV sector.

Currently, the NTA issues local area hackney (LAH) licences where applicants can show that there is a need for this part-time service and that it will not displace or replace current SPSV providers in a given area. To operate a local area hackney, two licences are required. These are: (1) a local area hackney licence for the vehicle - this three-year licence is obtainable from the NTA; and (2) a licence to drive a local area hackney - this licence is obtainable from An Garda Síochána. It is not required if a person already holds a valid licence to drive SPSVs.

A resident of the area in respect of which the local area hackney licence is sought, is not required to undertake the Industry Knowledge or Area Knowledge tests normally applying for SPSV driver licences. LAH drivers nevertheless must be licensed, and their vehicles must be licensed and insured. A local area hackney may only pick up passengers within a designated area of about 10km and may not pick up a new fare at a drop off point or any other point outside its designated area. As of 31 December 2024, there are 24 licensed LAH vehicles and 23 licensed LAH drivers.

The lessons learned from the 2023 LAH Pilot Scheme are informing NTA’s plans to develop future LAH services, and future initiatives will aim to offer practical solutions to address public transport needs in rural areas. Following a review of this pilot scheme and based on lessons learned, the NTA plans to introduce a new Local Area Hackney Scheme in 2025 and work is underway in this regard.

Finally, it may also be of interest to the Deputy that NTA is procuring a digital platform for access to rural open public transport – the Smart DRT pilot, as part of Connecting Ireland. This platform is expected to both improve people’s access to open public transport and provide automated and optimised bus service routing/scheduling in rural areas. The Smart DRT pilot project is due to start in 2025 in three areas (rural, suburban and urban) and, if proven successful, could expand further from 2026 onwards.