Taoiseach open to 'liberalising' taxi and hackney licensing rules
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is open to "liberalising" licensing rules for taxi and hackney drivers in rural Ireland in a bid to address ongoing concerns over the impact of new drink driving laws.
Mr Varadkar told TDs he is willing to examine the potential changes in response to a continuing push-back against the Transport Minister Shane Ross-led new road traffic laws.
Speaking during the latest Dáil leaders questions debate, unaligned Independent TD Danny Healy Rae told Mr Varadkar he believes rural Ireland is still deeply opposed to the new drink driving rules.
Hitting out at which he claimed is an attack on rural communities, Mr Healy Rae said the only reason the Government is forcing the enactment of the law is because "you're not trying to save lives, you're trying to save [Shane] Ross".
Mr Varadkar strongly rejected the claim, saying the "we should never forget why we have those laws", stressing they are there "because of road safety".
"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 year. That is the whole point of having road traffic laws," he said.
However, acknowledging the concerns that isolated rural people could be unexpectedly impacted 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.
The Taoiseach's comments came after Mr Healy Rae lashed out over what he claimed is the unreasonable level of clampdown on rural road users and the scale of garda checkpoints in recent weeks.
Mr Healy Rae later told the Irish Examiner he does not believe liberalising taxi and hackney license rules will address the concerns of rural Ireland.
