Minister of State at the Department of Transport James Lawless has said he supports the introduction of mandatory CCTV in taxis, but that it is a matter for the National Transport Authority (NTA) to introduce.
Speaking on RTÉ's This Week programme, Mr Lawless said that there is now greater awareness among people in relation to safety in taxis, following the recent court case in which taxi driver Raymond Shorten was sentenced to 17 years in prison for the rape of two women on separate occasions in 2022.
The Fianna Fáil TD for Kildare North noted that the representative body for taxi drivers also supports such a move.
When the public were consulted about CCTV in taxis in 2016, a significant majority - 97% - of respondents said they were not in favour of it, however Mr Lawless said that now, "the mood has changed".
With most means of public transport such as buses now using CCTV, the minister said that while taxis may be viewed as more private than a bus or train, they are "in reality a public transport space".
"People are getting into a cab with strangers," he said, adding that drivers should be vetted.
Pressed on whether the move to have CCTV in taxis would happen, Mr Lawless said while it made "a lot of sense", it was a matter for the NTA.
On legislating for the move, Mr Lawless said time was against him to do so, given that with an election "happening in six months' time or less" he was not sure if a bill could make it through the Oireachtas in that time.
The programme heard that the NTA is unable to provide any details in relation to how many taxi licence holders had criminal convictions, how many had received temporary bans from holding a licence following convictions for assault, or how many had received lifetime bans following serious criminal convictions.
Mr Lawless said in light of this, there needed to be better data sharing between gardaí and the NTA, as currently "the NTA are in charge of the vehicles and gardaí are in charge of the drivers" and so there are "too many cooks spoiling the broth".
"Ultimately, the reason people are getting a taxi, particularly young women ... it's a place of sanctuary and refuge. We say 'be safe and get a taxi home’ and that should be a guaranteed safety net to get to where you want to go," he added.
