The Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, is not here but he should know that 5,300 taxi vehicle licences will expire next year because of the vehicle age limit. That represents a huge proportion of our taxi fleet. Let us remember that taxi drivers were hammered for two years. They essentially had no income for two years, so they are asking for a further vehicle life extension to allow them to raise the money to buy other vehicles. In many cases, they will be raising money to buy electric vehicles. I am told the latter are not available. It is almost impossible to get electric vehicles that are suitable as taxis. Also, they are very expensive. You can get a grant of up to €20,000 but the vehicles cost up to €55,000 or more. Taxi drivers therefore need some assistance.

Taxi drivers are also asking me about the statutory instrument that would require them to have a cashless payment facility. While 90% of them have such a facility, drivers need to be protected to ensure that the onus is still on the customer to pay the fare.

I thank the Deputy. I acknowledge the concerns he has raised and the current difficulties we are seeing in respect of taxis more generally in Dublin city and elsewhere. The Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, who has responsibility for this, is not here to answer the specific query, but I will bring to his attention the practical suggestion on the extension, the issue of cashless payments and the need to engage with the sector to respond to the concerns.