Meeting in Swords today
Roy March 10th, 2010
The Irish Taxi Council decided to use the conclusions set out in the Transport Committee’s report as their list of demands for the Taxi industry: (this I would fully endorse)
1. That legislation should be introduced immediately to provide for the introduction of a three year moratorium on the issue of taxi licenses with the exception of the provision of wheelchair accessible taxis.
2. That the Minister’s proposal to subsume the Taxi Regulation Commission into the Dublin Transportation Office be implemented immediately.
3. In view of the inadequacy of taxi ranks in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford the Committee proposes that the Taxi Regulator establish the number of extra taxi rank spaces to be provided in each city in 2009 and 2010 and require those additional taxi rank spaces to be provided by the relevant local authorities.
4. That the Garda authorities be given responsibility for enforcement of taxi driver licensing in association with the Taxi Regulator. That a senior Garda be assigned to this role in each Garda division in view of the fact that the Taxi Regulator has already stated that she does not have enough resources to monitor the situation properly (nine enforcers).
5. That insurance certificates be checked in real time to rule out the amount of fraudulent certificates being presented.
6. That the new national licensing system that was introduced in 2006 which gives each license holder a unique 5 digit license number should include the city of issue.
7. That an authorised company would supply the taxi / hackney plates and roof signs with a security code to ensure that they cannot be copied and that they should be supplied only by N.C.T. centres.
8. That new applicants be required to undergo tests equal to or exceeding the standard required to acquire an Irish driving license.
9. To further improve the standard of service delivered, new criteria should be implemented through the examination process that would include a formal interview and proficiency in Irish or English.
10. That taxi drivers who wish to relinquish their plates should be obliged to return them to the Taxi Regulator at the purchase price. This would eliminate the practice of reselling them through newspapers etc.
11. That in the future the practice of renting or leasing taxi licenses should be discontinued with the exception of car replacements.
This list which has been in the hands of the Minister since last July will be sent along with a 7 day strike notice tomorrow…..hopefully there will be a reaction this time.
Personally I don’t believe the Irish Taxi Council has a mandate to call a strike, but instead will use bully boy tactics to enforce their will on those who might not necessarily agree with them.
Some Pictures from the meeting: (click to enlarge)
