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Grateful to Minister @NicholaMallon who has provided further details of her efforts to secure additional support for taxi drivers through the Executive to @NIAInfra this evening.
As you can see, as far back as March, Nichola was requesting guidance for the sector.
As you can see, as far back as March, Nichola was requesting guidance for the sector.
This was followed by correspondence to the Economy Minister seeking guidance for the industry.
As we now know, the guidance from Diane Dodds was painfully slow and sadly reflects the Department for the Economy’s approach to the sector.
As we now know, the guidance from Diane Dodds was painfully slow and sadly reflects the Department for the Economy’s approach to the sector.
Beyond guidance, Minister Mallon was also pressing for financial intervention to support the taxi sector. As the Minister for the Economy, Diane Dodds has responsibility for the Executive’s Income Subsidy schemes.
These letters from August
These letters from August
Further support was sought from the Finance Minister in October:
‘I write to request your assurance that the needs and livelihoods of those working in the taxi industry will be considered for the support that I strongly believe they require’.
‘I write to request your assurance that the needs and livelihoods of those working in the taxi industry will be considered for the support that I strongly believe they require’.
It’s disappointing that the Finance Minister replied suggesting that no ‘exceptional circumstances’ prevented taxi drivers benefitting from existing schemes. @MatthewOToole2 @PatCatney
A few weeks ago, the Economy Minister was AGAIN asked why the taxi sector is being excluded from support schemes.
@NicholaMallon explicitly sets out the case for including these workers in Part B of the CRBSS package.
@NicholaMallon explicitly sets out the case for including these workers in Part B of the CRBSS package.
As recently as 23 November, the case was being made for including the taxi sector in Part B of the Dept Economy Scheme.
@NicholaMallon clearly sets out that her scheme is an overhead cost relief scheme and should not prevent access to further support.
@NicholaMallon clearly sets out that her scheme is an overhead cost relief scheme and should not prevent access to further support.
This is some of the significant volume of correspondence @NicholaMallon has provided to our committee detailing how Ministers knew they were failing to meet their responsibilities. @SMcLaughlinmla
I’m looking forward to meeting taxi operators at @NIAInfra tomorrow to hear more.
I’m looking forward to meeting taxi operators at @NIAInfra tomorrow to hear more.
