Taxi Driver Online

Tsar to tackle taxi reforms

A major overhaul of Ireland’s taxi service is getting underway with a regulator to step into place within two months, it was confirmed today.

The Department of Transport said a series of stringent measures to improve the industry are expected to be pushed through over the next few weeks.

The new measures from the Taxi Advisory Council will include combating any taxi drivers ‘double jobbing’ without paying tax.

The moves envisage a driver producing a tax clearance certificate from the Revenue Commissioners to renew their licence.

A spokesman for Transport Minister Seamus Brennan said: “The regulators office on taxi regulation will take control away from local authorities responsible for licensing of taxis.”

The move towards a regulator’s office to oversee the entire industry was given a boost last year when the Taxi Regulation Bill was passed by the Dáil and the Seanad.

The vice president of the National Taxi Drivers Union, Vincent Kearns, welcomed the tough tax rules and said the Government should also clampdown on drivers claiming social welfare payments.

Mr Kearns, who represents 4,300 drivers in Dublin, said: “We welcome the introduction of tax certificates and we’ve asked for them since 1995.

“People should all be fully registered and compliant.

“There are many people out there who are in full-time employment elsewhere who are using this to supplement their incomes.”

Mr Kearns claims around 3,000 of the 10,500 cab drivers in the Dublin area are already employed elsewhere and only using their licence as a tax-free income supplement.

The hard-hitting report containing the tax certificate measure, plus another two, was lodged with the Transport Department.

One of the new protocols outlined includes removing taxi drivers’ exemption from wearing seatbelts.

Mr Kearns, who is a member of the council, added: “I was against it purely on the fact it could be used as a strangulation device that’s my only objection.”

The committee is also looking for safety improvements and wants to replace the old brass badges with a new tamper-proof photo identity card.

The Transport Department said there were a series of improvements planned before the year’s end to regulate the quality of the taxi service.

“The whole idea is to put it on a professional basis, if Minister Brennan has his way, there’ll be a uniform colour for taxis as well,” the spokesman added. “There’s a long list of things.”

The Transport Department plans to move to prevent drivers with serious criminal records getting behind the wheel of a taxi before the end of the year.

“The whole thing needs to be a lot more customer orientated. So the persons catered for, when they get in are sure they are driven by a professional driver that they feel safe with,” the spokesperson said.