352. Deputy John McGuinness asked the Minister for Transport if he will consider policy changes in the review of the Taxi Regulation Act 2013 to include the transfer of licences to other family members where a business is providing for succession planning in the lifetime of the licence holder; if he plans to request all stakeholders for submissions relative to proposed amendments and policy changes; if the heads of the Bill will be brought before the appropriate Oireachtas Committee; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54900/26]

The regulation of the small public service vehicle (SPSV) industry, including SPSV licensing, is a matter for the independent transport regulator, the National Transport Authority (NTA), under the provisions of the Consolidated Taxi Regulation Acts 2013 and 2016. I have no role in the day-to-day operations of the SPSV sector.

Draft Heads of a Bill are currently in preparation to update and amend the Consolidated Taxi Regulation Acts 2013 – 2016. The Bill was included on the Government’s Summer 2026 legislation programme in the section on All Other Legislation section of the programme. While drafting is at an early stage and the full range of issues to be included is to be scoped out in consultation with the NTA in their role as regulator for the sector, it is envisaged that the Bill will deal with a range of matters including ensuring enforcement provisions are up to date, providing for updates to licensing provisions in consultation with the regulator, and providing for technical amendments to the 2013 Act where required, for the purposes of clarity.

As the Deputy is aware, section 14(1) of the Taxi Regulation 2013 Act placed a prohibition on the transferability of vehicle licences, such that all SPSV licences are unique to the person to whom the licence has been issued and cannot be transferred or sold to another person. This follows a recommendation in the 2011 Taxi Regulation Review Report that a licence should determine a person’s suitability to carry out a function, and it should not have monetary value or be traded on the open market.

There is only one exemption to this non-transferability restriction; upon the death of the holder of a vehicle licence, another person who has been “nominated” by the licence holder prior to his or her death, may apply to NTA to continue to operate the licence. If that person is found to be a suitable person to hold a licence, i.e. fulfils all the terms and conditions applying to any licence holder (including tax compliance), the NTA may transfer the vehicle licence to that nominated person.

In 2022, the Advisory Committee on SPSVs indicated that it is not in favour of reverting to a legal situation which allows for the transferability of SPSV licences. The then Minister considered the Committee's Report and accepted the Committee's advice that the transferability of SPSV licences should not be allowed, and that remains the position.