Nenagh councillor calls for taxi rank in the town, otherwise people 'will not go out'
Cllr Joe Hannigan made the call at the February meeting of Nenagh Municipal District Council, pointing out that only hackneys were allowed operate in Nenagh.
He urged the council to allow hackney licence holders to convert their licences into taxi permits.
He was supported by Cllr Ger Darcy who pointed out that it had not been possible to issue new hackney licences because there were too many of them.
However, he said that while the licences were there there were no cars “on the ground. Maybe a taxi rank is the answer”.
Cllr Darcy said that, when it came to young people going out to socialise, not having a taxi service was a “turn off if you can’t get home”.
Cllr Darcy revealed that he was “that guy getting up at 3am” when his children were in town.
He said people would operate as drivers for a while and then stop but then when someone else wanted to start up they were being told there were enough licences.
“Uber is the solution, but the taxi and hackney drivers wanted it stopped,” said Cllr Darcy.
District Cathaoirleach Cllr Hughie McGrath said that he didn’t think converting hackeys to taxis was a “simple solution”.
“Some hackney drivers will tell you you could flood the market. The work is not enough during the week and they want it for the weekend,” he said.
Cllr McGrath suggested that the council talk to the hackney representative in Tipperary to discuss the matter.
He pointed out that only the National Transport Authority could transfer a public service vehicle licence.
Cllr Seamus Morris said drivers were taking abuse from passengers and being a driver was not easy because of what they were often being asked to clean up after some customers.
District Manager Marcus O’Connor agreed with Cllr McGrath that it may be the case that when it came to late night services there may be people who only wanted to operate on particular nights.
“There is no difficulty designating a taxi rank, but do we have any taxis to put into it?” he asked. “Nobody has come to us looking for a taxi licence. If there was a demand we could facilitate that,” said Mr O’Connor.
However, Cllr Hannigan believed there was a demand for taxis and “the only way to satisfy that demand is to have a rank”.
He warned that people would “not go into Nenagh if they can’t get out of Nenagh”.