Tommy Gorman, president of the National Taxi Driver Union, said figures last month showed there were now 12,500 taxi licences in Dublin, and that nationwide, that figure was over 26,000. ‘‘We are not asking that they stop issuing licences, just put a temporary cap on them, until the situation is rectified,’’ Gorman said.

‘‘There are currently 300 being issued a month. I just got figures that 3,000 are waiting to take the PSV [Public Service Vehicle] licence test this year. I know people now who are working long hours but not making enough money to pay a mortgage and car loan.

‘‘We want to see the return of the ‘cosy’, where a cab was shared by two drivers, and a buy-back system where a licence (bought back by the taxi regulator) goes back into the system, once a person leaves the industry,” he said.

However, Kathleen Doyle, head of the Commission for Taxi Regulation, said she did not agree with such a proposal. She said that there was enough work for drivers in dispatch offices, and claimed some drivers would not take work for their own reasons.

‘‘I spent three months travelling around observing these operations,” she said. ‘‘Many have a huge amount of bookings from public and private contracts, and they are having to pool work with other offices, because the drivers are not there to take it.

‘‘I have no power to cap licences, but am currently preparing tenders for a report on the economic impact of market liberalisation, and a national audit of taxi ranks. We are also accepting submissions on a taxi fare revision,” she said.

One committee member of the Taxi Company Owners Association told The Sunday Business Post that he had a waiting list of drivers who wanted to join his dispatch operation.

‘‘Even if there were 100,000 taxis out there, there will always be times when it is difficult to get one,” he said.

Taxi drivers staged a nationwide protest last Wednesday, to highlight what they believe is the saturation of the deregulated market. 

STORY