Council to review Longford town taxi regulations

At the May meeting of Longford Municipal District authority the elected members were asked to take consideration of the draft bye laws for “Street Service Vehicles” (Taxis) in Longford. The bye laws govern the regulations in place for taxis in the county town.

Longford local authority have bye laws for the “appointed stands”, that is designated taxi areas in the town. The local authority are revising the bye laws to take into consideration changes to the layout of the town as a result of urban regeneration projects, such as the improvement works at the Market Square.

“I must have missed the paperwork on this entirely,” said Cllr Seamus Butler of the agenda item, “I am suggesting that because of the far reaching nature of the issue and the vociferous stakeholders we would want to be careful we have the proper consultation with the taxi drivers. For that reason we should put it back to the next meeting.”

Senior Executive Engineer Eamonn Bennett said the item was on the agenda to start the public consultation phase of the process: “It goes to public consultation before it goes before the full council meeting,” the engineer stated.
Mr Bennett said it is an open process: “The revised bye laws will be up for public consultation to anyone, including taxi drivers, who wish to have an input on the matter.”

Cllr John Brown expressed concern about the system in place at present: “I can't see the logic in having a taxi rank at the courthouse. It's never used and prevents people from parking there. It's nonsense to have it as a taxi rank, I never see taxis in it.”

Mr Bennett explained the process to the elected members: “The copy of the bye laws will go to the Garda Commissioner. A public advert will be prepared and placed in the paper. The draft bye laws are then launched for public inspection and consultation.

“Public submissions are invited for the bye laws, the receipt of submissions must be at least two weeks before the last date for inspections. Following ratification a Managers Order will go to the council for approval. So anyone who wants to make comments is free to do so,” he told.

Cllr Martin Monaghan said there are a number of issues to be addressed in the consultation process: “There are 37 taxi plates in the town. The current bye laws, in my opinion, aren't suitable.”

Cllr Butler proposed that the bye laws go to the public consultation phase, this was seconded by Cllr Uruemu Adejinmi.