THE NATIONAL TRANSPORT Authority (NTA) has been called on to review its technical systems after reports that its online application for a grant to taxi drivers towards the purchase of wheelchair accessible vehicles closed after just fifteen minutes.

The NTA’s Wheelchair Accessible Vehicle Grant Scheme offers taxi drivers up to €15,000 towards the purchase of wheelchair accessible vehicles.

In December, the NTA revised the Grant Scheme for this year “in response to industry feedback and to enhance the grant process for all”.

The NTA said that changes included increasing the time applicants have to complete the grant process and providing two opportunities for applying, one in January and the other July.

The January round of the scheme opened yesterday, and closed once the NTA had received around 2,000 applications

January applicants will be contacted soon to find out if they were successful and can proceed to the next stages of the process.

In a statement yesterday, the NTA said it had “once again seen incredible demand for the Wheelchair Accessible Vehicle Grant Scheme” and noted that Round 1 “closed early on opening day”.

The NTA added that the level grant funding for the scheme in 2025 is planned to exceed all previous years, after a high of over €6 million was issued last year.

However, Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín has called for the NTA to “immediately look at its technical systems as online applications closed after just fifteen minutes”.

He said several “disappointed and upset taxi drivers” have contacted his office “to voice their utter frustration with the situation”.

“The NTA opened its application process online yesterday morning at 10am and by 10.15am, all the grants were gone,” said Tóibín.

“For all the grants to be allocated in just fifteen minutes is crazy, and means the current grant is incredibly limited and difficult to secure, currently only available to a tiny cohort of applicants.”

Tóibín said he was contacted by a taxi driver who said he was online at exactly 10am yesterday, but was “locked out by 10.15am”.

“He now has to wait until July to try again,” said Tóibín, “a whole six months and no guarantee at all that he will be successful then and may have to wait a further six months and on it goes.”

The Aontú leader said this is “totally unacceptable and unfair”.

He added: “The Government has asked the taxi industry to ensure more of its vehicles are accessible for people with disabilities and this is a fair request.

“But it seems bizarre that when drivers then try to draw down a grant in order to try and buy accessible vehicles, the grants are all gone.”

Tóibín said he has spoken to a taxi driver, who wishes to remain anonymous, who is renting a taxi for €300 a week and trying to buy his own taxi.

“The grant of €15,000 would have gone some way towards purchasing his own vehicle, which would come in at around €90,000,” said Tóibín.

Tóibín said he has questioned the NTA on its online system, and that a spokesperson “said there were no issues with its system but did acknowledge that its website was slowed down due to the large number of applicants applying as soon as it opened to online applicants at 10am”.

“I find this utterly bizarre and it is terribly unfortunate on the taxi drivers who were relying on this grant,” said Tóibín.

A spokesperson for the NTA told The Journal that it is “worth noting that new licence holders may choose to licence new wheelchair accessible taxis and hackneys without grant assistance”.

“This is an equally used route for new entrants, with 346 new such licences being added to the fleet in 2024 without grant aid, versus 372 which were grant aided,” added that NTA spokesperson.