Govt to appoint taxi regulator

The Government has approved plans to appoint a national taxi regulator to oversee the taxi, hackney and limousine industries.

Transport Minister Seamus Brennan said a regulator's office will be established on a non-statutory basis next February pending the drawing up of formal legislation.

However, the National Taxi Drivers Union has expressed frustration at this delay.

Spokesman Vincent Kearns said: "By the time [the regulator's] department is set up and by the time he actually starts functioning, that could be many months after that.

"We appreciate the move by Minister Brennan, but it has been far too late and the regulator should have been appointed before the total deregulation of the taxi industry."

Meanwhile, Ireland's three main taxi unions, the NTDU, SIPTU and the Irish Taxi Drivers Federation, are still planning to press ahead with their three-hour stoppage tomorrow.

Severe traffic disruption is expected in Dublin as the unions have asked members to gather in the Phoenix Park at 1pm before driving to the Dail.

The stoppage was called to protest the Government's failure to deal with a number of issues facing taxi drivers since the deregulation of the industry two years ago.

These concerns include the need for a taxi regulator, but also the erosion of full-time drivers' incomes, high insurance costs and the increasing number of people who have full-time jobs in other sectors and also drive taxis on evenings and weekends.