For the Government's roadmap on Covid-19 to be effective and gain public support it needs to be clear, consistent, to make sense and to embrace the principle of fairness and all of us being in it together. To date, the Government's measures and proposals have failed on those counts. The signs are that today's announcements from the Government are failing in that regard.

I want to focus on one key aspect, which is the fairness principle or the idea that we are all in this together. If we do not take all our society with us, and particularly those who are affected by measures and health restrictions, everything will unravel.

One of the affected groups, which I have mentioned repeatedly to the Taoiseach, has come out today in record numbers in a socially distant, masked protest in individual cars. These are the taxi drivers and their protest reached from Ballyfermot to Merrion Square. It is the biggest taxi protest ever. These people used to make their livelihood on the road but there is no roadmap for them. There is no respect or fairness and the Government is ignoring them. Their incomes and livelihoods have been decimated while they accept that the restrictions have affected their industry.

Whereas others have got support in order to keep them in employment, keep up incomes and keep businesses viable, taxi drivers have got nothing. They have been placed between a rock and hard place. They can stay on the pandemic unemployment payment, PUP, which the Government is going to cut, but many of these people are vulnerable and over 66. Otherwise they can go back to work and lose all the pandemic unemployment payment when a fraction of their previous income is available. We can think about everything on which they depend and which is affected by the restrictions. They include international travel, gigs, theatres, social gatherings and taking people from pubs and nightclubs. Everything on which they rely to make an income is gone or drastically reduced, and nothing has been given back.

As people on the protest today have said, they are not cars; they are mothers, fathers, sons and people with mortgages or rent to pay. They are a vital part of our public transport system, which the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, does not seem to understand. They bring people to hospital and politicians to RTÉ. They respond where there are no bus routes and at unsocial hours. They are a vital part of our public transport system.

They are asking for an income subsidy if they return to work. They are asking that no cut be made to their PUP if they feel they cannot go to work, particularly if they are over 66. They are asking for grants to cover ongoing costs, which run to approximately €11,000 per year, even if they do nothing to keep their car on the road. They are asking for the ten-year replacement rule for vehicles to go to 12 years because they do not have an income that allows them to replace their cars. They are asking the Government to stop issuing new licences when there is not enough work for the taxi drivers that are out there. They are asking that there be no question of the threat of the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, to remove them from quality bus corridors and bus lanes being pushed through. This would absolutely kick them when they are down. I ask the Taoiseach to respond to the requests of the taxi drivers.

I thank the Deputy for raising the matter and I know he has genuinely pursued it for quite some time. I spoke to the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, about this and I take fully on board the necessity to do something for taxi drivers and people in similar positions who may not have come under the ambit of the restart grant. I specifically mention people who could not be included in the rates-based system where supports could be administered in the way we did for many small enterprises and businesses.

The Government is considering how to combine the PUP with some measures that would enable people in such positions, such as those in the arts sector, where the level of activity is much lower than it would have been prior to the onset of Covid-19, to earn additional income without losing the basic payment. That is something I have asked the Government to look at and we are engaging on that. The Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, met taxi representative groups last week. He is clear in the view that they will not be stopped from using or banned from quality bus corridors. He made the point clearly to me this morning that it was not on the agenda at all and he was a bit nonplussed as to how it got on the agenda to start with. He has said it will not happen with regard to BusConnects and has been very clear about that.

The Deputy raised other matters and the waiving of late renewal fees has been implemented until March 2021. The Minister is open to meeting representatives of the industry. The Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, the Tánaiste and others are genuinely interested in seeing what we can do to respond to a genuine need.

I am not arguing with the nuts and bolts of what the Deputy has presented. There are still some sectors which have nowhere near the same degree of business activity that they once had because of Covid-19 and Government mandates based on public health advice. Their incomes have fallen dramatically as a result. Some people may encounter problems if they discontinue the Covid-19 pandemic unemployment payment for a few work projects because they may find that unsustainable in the medium term. I understand that. There is a need to do something about it.

I welcome the withdrawal of the crazy suggestion, which seems to have come from the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, of removing taxi drivers from bus lanes. We need more than vague commitments. We need very specific commitments. Subsidies have gone to other industries that have lost 20% or 30% of turnover. Taxi drivers have lost 40% or 50% of turnover. The more drivers return to work, the more turnover will decrease, especially if there are more restrictions. As long as Covid-19 exists and restrictions apply, there will not be a viable living for taxi drivers by a margin of at least 50%. They also face ongoing costs of about €1,000 a month, which they cannot cover. They have been clocking up debts over the past six months.

If other industries rightly received grants and income subsidies, those should be extended to taxi drivers and to another group I have mentioned repeatedly and which is also holding a protest tomorrow, namely, the live music, arts and entertainment sector. Those workers need the same thing. We need those commitments. It is madness to continue to issue taxi licences at the moment when there is not nearly enough work for the 22,000 drivers who already hold one. I ask the Taoiseach please to get a move on. Taxi drivers need help or their industry and their livelihoods will be utterly destroyed. They are desperate and they are appealing for urgent action.

The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport will continue to engage with the representatives of taxi drivers to discuss measures to ease the burden on them during what is a very difficult time for them. As I have said to the Deputy before, issues arise in administering these measures to protect all involved, ensure money gets to those who really need and deserve it, ensure verification etc. That said, there is a need to assist the sectors the Deputy has identified which have not really benefited from restart grants or other interventions which had the merit of involving local authorities insofar as businesses had to be subject to commercial rates, which allowed for ease of administration. Other sectors have not had that benefit. There is no doubt that hospitality and the sectors dependent on tourism and travel have been hit hardest. The Covid-19 pandemic unemployment payment has been a very significant intervention by the Government, to the value of €3.3 billion. That will continue and we are now opening it up to new entrants until the end of the year. That represents fairness and a good intervention by the State on behalf of the taxpayer.