Sir, - A person who paid the market price for a taxi licence to become a full-time taxi driver is not a speculator. The high cost of the licence was determined by government inaction since the 1978 restrictive legislation.
The recent decision to deregulate the industry totally devalued the driver's asset, not through market forces, but by Government action. The Government needs to address all of the consequences of the High Court judgement which it claims forced deregulation. We are constantly reminded that the taxi business is like any other private business. I am unaware of any other business where the prices are fixed by the State with an 11 per cent price increase in the past 15 years. - Yours, etc.,
Fonsie Muldoon, Ardilaun, Portmarnock, Co Dublin.