This article is from page 7 of the 2008-02-19 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 7 JPG
THE Competition Authority has been called upon to investigate claims of a ‘closed shop’ that prohibits over 400 Clare taxi and hackney drivers from operating out of Shannon Airport.
Bye-laws dating back 14 years en- sure that there is no conventional taxi rank at Shannon Airport and, instead, passengers seeking a taxi must hire a hackney cab based at Shannon.
Despite the massive growth in pas- senger numbers at Shannon Airport
in recent years, where last year 3.6 million people travelled through it, only 34 hackney cabs operate out of the airport.
Yesterday, the Shannon Aijrport Authority (SAA) declined to say how many new licences have been issued in recent years, stating only that the numbers have increased ‘slightly’.
Since the deregulation of the taxi business in November 2000, the number of licences has increased four-fold to 467 in Clare.
However, Shannon Airport remains a ‘closed shop’ and Deputy Dooley
said yesterday, “The taxi business at Shannon shouldn’t remain closed to others. It is anti-competitive and should be opened up to everyone.”
In his letter to the chairman of the Competition Authority, William Prasifka, Deputy Dooley said, “I am very concerned that since de-regu- lation of the taxi service, the num- bers of all public service vehicles in Clare has increased from 177 in November 2000 to 467 in December of 2007.
‘Based on these figures, I see no ar- gument to have this practice in place
at Shannon Airport.”
Deputy Dooley has also written to the Chief Executive of the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA), Declan Collier, and the Director of the Shan- non Airport Authority (SAA), Mar- tin Moroney.
He wrote, “I am concerned that the services provided are not in keeping with competition law or indeed in keeping with the spirit of de-regula- tion in the taxi sector.”
Deputy Dooley has also written to the Commissioner for Taxi Regula- tion, Kathleen Doyle, on the issue.
In response, a spokesman for Shan- non Airport said, “Shannon Airport complies with all applicable legisla- tion governing taxis and other small public service vehicles.
‘The current arrangement at Shan- non as operated is applied under leg- islation 1.e. S.I. 425 of 1994 (Airport Bye Laws).
“Since the establishment of the Taxi Regulator, we have been in reg- ular communication with them and they have outlined their satisfaction that the current operation adequately meets the needs of our passengers.”