Hardship scheme 'fails' taxi drivers

A TAXI hardship payment scheme has failed to help drivers and their dependents left in severe financial difficulties following overnight deregulation, an Oireachtas committee heard yesterday.

Transport Minister Séamus Brennan, who was quizzed by members of the Transport Committee, has been criticised for presiding over what taxi drivers and their families describe as a fundamentally unfair system of compensation.

Mr Brennan has promised to meet members of Families Advocate Immediate Redress, a group of wives and widows who campaigned for compensation but have been critical of the way packages are worked out. Mr Brennan, while offering a meeting, has indicated he will not change the compensation system, drawn up by the Government-appointed Taxi Hardship Panel.

After yesterday's meeting, Roisin Shortall, Labour's transport spokesperson and committee member, said: "It is a disgrace that there is still no improvement on measly compensation packages for families who saw the value of their licences devalue overnight. Mr Brennan is steadfastly refusing to extend compassionate payments issued under the taxi hardship scheme."The Government set up the hardship panel some months after the November 2000 deregulation of the industry. Some drivers paid over €100,000 for the then lucrative plates.

Under the scheme, over 600 payments of between €3,000 and €13,000, have been made. A total of €8m has been paid, but that figure is expected to double.

Cathy Darling, spokesperson for FAIR, is surprised that Mr Brennan can defend the "discriminatory elements" of the system which have already been criticised in the Dáil and by a powerful appeals committee of the European Parliament.

FAIR's position is that the payment structure recommended by the hardship panel is unfair, wrong and unacceptable. The payments should be reviewed by a team of independent qualified actuaries and cases reviewed on an individual basis, said Ms Darling.

In particular, those who are working harder to keep up repayments on plates should not be excluded from the scheme if they cannot show they are earning less, FAIR argued.

Meanwhile, SIPTU has written to Dublin City Council and Mr Brennan complaining about the effect on taxi drivers' earnings of higher fuel charges. The union suggest a change in the fixed fares structure.