As a newbie to this sector as in NEW still looking around for a car.
Why don’t you fight back? Is there not a union or group of people that could get together to put forward a well thought out case
We have many unions, in fact the sheer number of unions suggests we are a very united bunch. Most of the unions concentrate on representing drivers who hold DAA permits, in particular those who are white and Irish by accident of birth. Hence they have little or no interest in rocking the boat as far as DAA is concerned. However, as we have seen with TTNH and ITDF, they do rigoursly defend convicted criminals' rights to drive taxis provided those convicted criminals meet the criteria suggested above.
Both Jim Waldron (Enforcer, NPHTA) and Joe Heron (Proprietor, ITDF) have suggested that over 20,000 drivers have left the trade to pursue more lucrative professions/trades/vocations with the former actively promoting lower entry costs. Our largest dispatcher, Free Now, has focussed a lot of it's efforts on recruiting (illegal) (immigrant) drivers to address the shortfall it experiences.
NTA does subsidise vehicles for incumbents and new entrants through it's WAV grant schemes which have run with limited budgets over the last few years.