CO KERRY has just 17 wheelchair accessible taxis - but it has 84 limousine licences. Few of the taxis vehicles operate outside the main towns of Killarney and Tralee, according to a report.
Councillors also claimed even the small number of wheelchair available taxis were regularly unavailable to those in need of them.
A total of 518 small public service vehicle licences were issued to the county in 2007 and these include hackney as well as taxi licences and limousines.
No town outside Tralee and Killarney has designated taxi spaces.
Terry O'Brien, a county and Tralee town councillor who works as a community development officer with the Irish Wheelchair Association said the dearth of mobility accessible vehicles was a huge issue in the county where some 700 persons are registered with mobility problems.
Tourists were also anxious to have wheelchair accessible vehicles when they visited Kerry in order to visit areas such as the Ring of Kerry and the Dingle peninsula. Acknowledging some of the 17 taxi operators were very dedicated and obliging, Mr O'Brien said most were rarely available. "The lack of adapted vehicles is constant source of complaint," he said.
Independent councillor Brendan Cronin, who requested the report from the county council at the meeting in Scartaglin, the seat of Kerry mayor Tom Fleming, said it was "quite amazing" to think that the major tourist towns such as Dingle and Kenmare and the busy town of Killorglin had no designated taxi spaces.