Leo Varadkar open to new rural taxi rules

Independent TD Danny Healy-Rae told Mr Varadkar he believes rural Ireland is still deeply opposed to the new drink-driving rules.

He dismissed the enactment of laws by saying, “you’re not trying to save lives, you’re trying to save [Shane] Ross”.

Mr Varadkar strongly rejected the claim, saying “we should never forget why we have those laws”.

“Thousands, if not tens of thousands, of Irish people in urban and rural Ireland have lost their lives on the road, or become disabled for life, as a result of road-traffic collisions.

“Many of us have been affected by deaths on the road in our own families. People never forget the anniversary and always think about it at Christmas time and other times of the year. That is the whole point of having road-traffic laws,” he said.

However, acknowledging that rural people could be unexpectedly impacted by the new laws, Mr Varadkar said he is open to looking at “new rules” to address the matter, including potential licence changes to make it easier to become taxi or hackney drivers in rural Ireland. “I totally appreciate that the new rules have made it harder for many people to get out and about and to socialise, if that involves drinking alcohol. That is why we have invested in Rural Link.

“In some cases, the uptake and the demand for these services has been very poor. We need to look at other solutions and we are doing that, particularly around rural taxis and hackney licences. We are trying to liberalise that system and make them more available, particularly at night-time and on weekends,” Mr Varadkar said.

Mr Healy-Rae said plans to liberalise taxi and hackney licence rules would not address the concerns of rural Ireland.