Sir, - The Tanaiste has stated that deregulation has worked for other industries. She is incorrect to make the analogy with the taxi situation. The only thing being deregulated is the number of taxi operators' licences. All the other regulations are still in place.
If she wants to talk about deregulation and competition she should deregulate totally and let the market decide what it wants. She has to deregulate fares for taxis, and stop providing subsidies to Dublin Bus, Bus Eireann, Iarnroid Eireann etc., in just the same way as she had to stop subsidising Aer Lingus.
Ms Harney also stated that taxis are part of a comprehensive public transport system. If this is true, can she tell us why there is no reference to taxis anywhere in Mrs O'Rourke's Department's website, which has very comprehensive details about every current plan on public transport. In fact there is no reference to a taxi plan anywhere on the Government websites.
It seems to me that the taxi dispute is deflecting attention away from the collapse of the PPF and ultimately the Government itself, and the Government will blame us. Deregulation of the taxi industry is a political decision, not a legal one, no matter what is said. - Yours, etc.,
John Fitzpatrick, Cabra, Dublin 7.
