People with Disabilities in Ireland
4th Floor Jervis House
Jervis Street
Dublin 1
Telephone: 01 87 21 74 4
Fax: 01 87 21 77 1
Email: info@pwdi.ie
Deputy Michael Ring TD put a series of Dáil questions on wheelchair accessible taxis. This is the detailed response given by the Minister for Transport:
The licensing and operation of small public service vehicles, including wheelchair accessible taxis, is governed by the Road Traffic (Public Service Vehicles) Regulations 1963 to 2002 and the Road Traffic (Construction, Equipment and Use of Vehicles) Regulations 1963 to 2002. Under these regulations, a licence may only be granted following presentation of a vehicle test certificate and certificate of suitability issued by the National Car Testing Service, (NCTS), which confirms that the vehicle is suitable for the purpose of being licensed as a taxi, wheelchair accessible taxi, hackney or limousine, as appropriate. The testing of a vehicle for taxi licensing purposes is undertaken by NCTS in accordance with the relevant regulatory requirements, including the requirements for wheelchair accessible taxis contained in the Road Traffic (Public Service Vehicles) (Amendment) Regulations 1998 (SI No. 47 of 1998), in the case of such a licence application. There is no financial assistance available to assist vehicle owners to convert vehicles to comply with the requirements of the wheelchair accessible taxi specification.
The Taxi Regulation Act 2003 specifically provides that an objective of the Commission for Taxi Regulation is to promote access to small public service vehicles by persons with disabilities. In this regard, the commission will be tasked with the determination of the future policy in relation to accessible taxis, including the consideration of possible revisions or improvements to the existing wheelchair accessible taxi specification. It is envisaged that this will necessitate specific discussions with both disability and taxi representative groups.
Under the public service vehicle regulations, the granting and renewal of wheelchair accessible taxi licences is the responsibility of individual local licensing authorities to whom applications for licences are made. Accordingly, information regarding the total number of wheelchair accessible taxis licensed currently is not available in my Department. However, the following table outlines the position at 31st December 2003 based on statistical information provided for my Department by Local Authorities.
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