Would be taxi drivers are waiting months to get a licence - despite a nationwide shortage of drivers.
On average there is a 226 day wait between passing an SPSV skills test and a licence being issued.
During the pandemic, significant numbers of taxi drivers quit the profession and the workforce is thought to be around 10% lower than it was before COVID-19.
The shortage is particularly acute in Dublin and TDs have called for more resources to be allocated to the National Transport Authorities' Carriage Office to help deal with the backlog.
“I think we all know that there’s a shortage of taxis,” Emer Higgins, TD for Dublin Mid West, told Newstalk.
“I think most people are noticing it and it’s a real problem in Dublin where people are struggling to get a taxi after a night out.
“And I know many people are finding it difficult to pre-book a taxi for an airport run.”
DWNMHR Taxi in the rain at night, Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, GermanyLast month, the National Private Hire and Taxi Association said that some its members had stopped working at night because Dublin had become “more violent” in recent years.
“Maybe it’s just about old age and people like myself are getting a bit older and you start to think, ‘Is it worth my while going out?’” spokesman Jim Waldron told Lunchtime Live.
“It might be a little bit more profitable to work at night time but you have to consider your welfare.
“It has become more prevalent and there are things that the Government and the council could do to help the public as much as the drivers and we have said this for a long time; better located taxi ranks, properly lit tax ranks - possibly with CCTV, possibly with marshals so that people know where to go in a taxi rank.”
Main image: A taxi at a rank on St Stephen's Green, Dublin city centre. Picture by: Radharc Images / Alamy Stock Photo
