Limerick taxi drivers are being driven out of their livelihood according to a local spokesman as Limerick City Council prepared to ask the industry regulator to "suspend and review" the issuing of city taxi plates.

A motion passed by the council this Monday said that "the industry is over saturated and is not sustainable in providing a quality living standard for the majority of full time taxi plate holders". Mayor Ger Fahy will now write to the taxi regulator, environment minister John Gormley and all Limerick Dáil deputies requesting their support on the matter.

Pat Walsh, who is a member of a group representing local drivers, said that they got full support to approach councillors Jim Long, Kevin Kiely and Kieran Walsh last November to file the motion.

He said that many long-serving and full-time drivers were competing with a huge number of part-time drivers and "common sense" showed that "only so many people can make a living out of it".

"Before deregulation, there were around 207 taxis in the city and now there are around 940. On top of that, they keep issuing more licences every three months. Limerick is very quiet from Monday to Thursday and then on weekends we're faced with all these drivers coming in to work on top of their other 9 to 5pm jobs. It's seen as handy money while people driving for 20 or 30 years have no other job and a lot of commitments."

Mr Walsh said that before deregulation the city needed more taxis—up to 450-500— but "another 700 is ridiculous".

"A lot of drivers were delighted with deregulation because it meant that the business would have proper regulations and standards. The taxi regulator wants to provide a full time competent service but instead, full-time drivers could have to go on the dole and the service will be depleted. We just want a cap put on the number at the moment."

Cllr Jim Long said that he and his fellow councillors are members of the local taxi forum and know first hand the difficulties that taxi drivers are facing.

"We've met the delegation of drivers three times and the primary concern is that there are just too many taxi plates in Limerick. It's diminishing the quality service that was the aim of the taxi regulator. We're not looking to cancel out any of the plates that are already out there but we think the issuing should stop while the service here is reviewed and the market stabilises."

He added that up to 2003, the livelihood was a "closed shop" but "a free for all is not in anyone's best interest".

Cllr Kiely said that the motion got the support of the council and all are interested in the reply. "This decision wasn't taken last week; we've met with the drivers and given this careful consideration. If you drive down any street you'll see all the taxis interfering with traffic because there isn't enough room for them."

Cllr Kieran Walsh added that health and safety is also an issue with drivers forced to work longer hours or part-time drivers working after a normal working week.

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