Gerard P. Craughwell Calls for Crackdown on Taxi Plate Abuse
Gerard P. Craughwell criticised taxi deregulation for enabling large-scale ownership and rental of taxi plates, citing high weekly rents and absentee landlords. He urged cancellation of excessive plate holdings, a route for drivers renting plates to buy them from the taxi regulator, and stronger checks that drivers have passed the PSV test and hold full insurance.
He recounted travelling in a taxi where the driver was renting the plate for 200 euros a week - roughly 10,000 euros a year - and said he understands there are individuals in the city who own 100 or 200 plates and rent them out. He described some owners as absentee landlords and said the original rationale for deregulation was one plate for one driver to make a living.
He questioned whether drivers on the road have all passed the PSV test and whether they are fully insured, and raised alarm about shift-swapping where one driver hands a taxi to another during the day. He argued these practices undermine confidence that taxis are properly regulated and safe.
He linked the concentration of plates to the difficulty of getting a taxi in Dublin, saying plates are not being issued and that high rental costs leave many drivers working much of the week for little or no net income after maintenance, insurance and rents - calling it "gross exploitation."
He proposed cancelling plates held by absentee owners and allowing those renting plates to buy a plate from the taxi regulator, noting the price is "somewhere between" 500 and 5,000 euros in his account. He asked colleagues to raise the issue through the party system and suggested engagement with members of Fine Gael to address the problem.
Concentration of taxi plates
He recounted travelling in a taxi where the driver was renting the plate for 200 euros a week - roughly 10,000 euros a year - and said he understands there are individuals in the city who own 100 or 200 plates and rent them out. He described some owners as absentee landlords and said the original rationale for deregulation was one plate for one driver to make a living.
Safety and regulation questions
He questioned whether drivers on the road have all passed the PSV test and whether they are fully insured, and raised alarm about shift-swapping where one driver hands a taxi to another during the day. He argued these practices undermine confidence that taxis are properly regulated and safe.
Availability and market effects
He linked the concentration of plates to the difficulty of getting a taxi in Dublin, saying plates are not being issued and that high rental costs leave many drivers working much of the week for little or no net income after maintenance, insurance and rents - calling it "gross exploitation."
Proposed remedies and political appeal
He proposed cancelling plates held by absentee owners and allowing those renting plates to buy a plate from the taxi regulator, noting the price is "somewhere between" 500 and 5,000 euros in his account. He asked colleagues to raise the issue through the party system and suggested engagement with members of Fine Gael to address the problem.
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Transcript
Mr Margaret Carheerlough, Acting Leader, you will be aware, as indeed the Carheerlough and many members of the House will be aware, that taxi deregulation was brought in into this country to increase competition and make the taxi service, particularly in the bigger cities, more available. I travelled in a taxi last week and the driver of the taxi was renting the plate for the taxi and it was costing him 200 euros a week. That's 10,000 euros a year, right? I understand anecdotally that there are people in this city who have 100 and 200 taxi plates that they rent out. Some of them are absentee landlords. They are not living in the state. Now, there's two questions to be asked here. The first one is, is that contrary to the deregulation, if you want, the modus operandi or the rationale for deregulation. And the second one is, how sure can we be that those driving taxis in this city have gone through the PSV test and are safe drivers? How sure can we be that they are fully insured? And who in God's name ever allowed one individual to own 200 taxi plates and rent them out at a cost of 10,000 euros per year? 100 plates at 10,000 per year. It's an enormous amount of money. And yet, most of the members of this House will know that it can be extremely difficult to get a taxi in Dublin. The reason? They're not issuing plates. Now, I think every person has a right to make a living. But I think the way in which, and the rationale for taxi plates was one plate for one driver to make a living. But where somebody has 100 plates, there is something wrong. And if the story is true that there are people with 200 plates out there who are absentee landlords, the plates should be cancelled straight away. And the people who are renting those plates should be able to go to the taxi regulator and buy a plate. I think it's about 500 euros. Is it 500 or maybe 5,000? It's somewhere between those two figures. And you can make a living out of it. But if you're paying for the maintenance of your car, paying insurance, paying the rent, you're probably working the first three days of the week for nothing. So I think it is gross exploitation. There is also the story that some taxis are on the road 24 hours a day. So you have a driver getting out of the taxi at 6 o'clock in the evening and somebody else getting in, getting out of the taxi at 6 in the morning and handing back over at 12. It is just totally and utterly unacceptable. We need to know that taxis are regulated properly, that drivers are insured properly and that they have the necessary qualification to be a taxi driver in any city in this country. So I would ask that maybe you might take that up through the party system and maybe your colleagues in Fine Gael might do the same. Thank you.