There are acute challenges with regard to public transport in the late-night economy and they need to be addressed. Last week, the Tánaiste pointed to Uber and Lyft as a possible solution. He said they are just not available in Ireland in the same way and maybe we need to look at that again to see if we can liberalise that. Those comments caused significant concern, not least with the National Transport Authority, NTA, which stated it would undermine the regulated taxi market, that we would lose both drivers and vehicles from the regulated market and that it would have a negative impact on customers and services. I agree with that. Will the Tánaiste confirm that that is his position, his party's position or the Government’s position? Does he not agree that a far better approach would be to address the challenges in the taxi sector, such as fuel costs, the fare structure and the ten-year rule, and to expand all late-night public transport options, rather than this lurch to the gig economy?

I think that sometimes there is more than one solution to a problem. I very much support late-night and 24-7 public transport. The Deputy will be aware new services are coming online and for the first time we have 24-7 public transport services. Improving conditions for taxi drivers can help as well.

I do not think we should rule out giving consideration to additional solutions. Like the Deputy, I travel the world. When I have been in cities in other parts of Europe and America, I have used services such as Lyft and Uber which are high-quality and affordable services with good cars. People are more than willing and happy to provide that service. It seems a little unusual to me that Ireland is one of the few countries that makes that almost impossible. Perhaps we need to consider that.