The Government has been accused of acting in a politically cynical manner by leaving decisions regarding taxi fares to county and city councils. The criticism came after Dublin City Council voted on Monday night to increase taxi fares by up to 70 cent.
The rise, which is planned to come into effect in January, will result in an average increase of between 6 per cent and 7 per cent per journey. The last rise was in March last year.
The other three Dublin councils will also have to vote in favour of the rise for it to come into effect for the Dublin region, which now has 14,000 taxi plates.
However, the chairman of the council committee which suggested the fare rises, Cllr Dermot Lacey of Labour, said local authority power regarding the regulation of taxis had been removed, except for fare increases.
A taxi regulator, along with a National Taxi Council representing various interest groups, are now responsible for regulating most other aspects of the industry, following reforms by the former minister for transport, Mr Brennan.
Mr Lacey, who chairs the joint taxi-hackney committee of the four Dublin councils, claimed the minister had engaged in "an extraordinary act of cynicism".
"He removed all responsibility from councils regarding taxis, except for rises in fares," he said.
He said the issue of fare rises was more suitable to the National Taxi Council, and that the Dublin authorities should have representation on it.
He said the city council was left in a position where it had to decide on whether to approve a fare rise, without being able to seek anything in return.
The fare rise was recommended in an independent report by Goodbody consultants as being in line with current inflation trends.
The rise will see the initial pick-up charge increase from €2.75 to €3.40 during the day, and from €3.00 to €3.70 at weekends and evenings.