Full-time taxi drivers should be eligible to receive the emergency COVID payment until January.
This is according to the Tralee Taxi Association, which has compiled a number of measures it wants to see implemented to help the industry, following the economic downturn caused by COVID-19 and government-imposed restrictions.
Chairman of the Tralee Taxi Association Terry Boyle says 85% of taxi drivers in the town ceased working in March and availed of the COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment.
He says as rural Ireland will be hardest hit, a number of measures should be introduced to help the taxi industry.
These include the continuation of the current COVID-19 payment for full-time taxi drivers until January 2021, extend the current ten-year age rule for vehicles to 15, and place a moratorium in the issuing of new taxi plates for five years.
The association also wants a plate buy back scheme introduced, which would encourage those of retirement age or of ill health to leave the industry.
There are also calls for the local authority to provide taxi ranks that are centrally located in urban centres and easily accessible.
Mr Boyle also wants to see a review of the insurance sector, a list of safety procedures made for when drivers return to work and for the National Transport Authority to remind the public taxis are safe to use, when correct measures are implemented.
He also wants NCT centres to give priority to taxi vehicles when they resume working and for financial institutions to give payment breaks to drivers who need that option.
Mr Boyle adds decisions made in the coming days weeks and months will determine what kind of a taxi fleet Ireland will have in the future.
