Abstract This paper analyses the decision-making processes behind the reform of a policy that had caused significant controversy for over a decade. At 8 p.m. on 21 November 2000 the Minister of State for the Environment, Bobby Molloy, TD, signed S.I. No. 367/2000 – Road Traffic (Public Service Vehicles) (Amendment) (No. 3) into law. This statutory instrument provided ‘for the full resumption of taxi licensing’ and ‘the revocation of regulatory provisions involving quantitative restrictions on the licensing of taxis and hackneys’. With the stroke of a pen, Molloy had effectively ended the taxi licensees’ de facto 21-year control of public service vehicle licensing policy. The paper finds Molloy’s decision to have been a significant policy improvement as it brought about a substantially better taxi service. In addition, the paper shows that even with strong evidence of policy failure, its reform can take a considerable time. With regard to the four-factor framework of institutions, ideology, interests and irrationality, I find that the institutions of the state, while initially facilitating the regulatory capture of the policy by the taxi sector, eventually ensured that this was broken down due to the electoral system and the separation of powers. Up until the reform decision, the interests of the taxi licensees and their political supporters eclipsed the common good. Ideology played a significant role as a backdrop to the policy but ideology was not the primary reason the minister deregulated. Finally, I find that the collective irrationality of the taxi sector leads to an overestimation of their power due to an inability to process the relevant information and collectively agree a reasonable compromise. The key recommendations of the paper are that the means of policy setting should be radically and innovatively overhauled, and that it is imperative that regulators harness the vast information that taxi apps gather in order to improve regulatory outcomes.

中文翻译：

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出租车政策的自由化：捕获和重新捕获？

摘要 本文分析了一项引起重大争议的政策改革背后的决策过程。2000 年 11 月 21 日晚上 8 点，TD 环境国务部长 Bobby Molloy 签署了 SI No. 367/2000 – 道路交通（公共服务车辆）（修正案）（第 3 号），使其成为法律。该法定文书规定“全面恢复出租车牌照”和“撤销涉及出租车和老爷车牌照数量限制的监管规定”。莫洛伊一挥笔，就有效结束了出租车牌照持有人对公共服务车辆牌照政策长达21年的事实上的控制。该论文发现 Molloy 的决定是一项重大的政策改进，因为它带来了更好的出租车服务。此外，该文件表明，即使有强有力的政策失败证据，其改革也可能需要相当长的时间。关于制度、意识形态、利益和非理性的四要素框架，我发现国家制度在最初促进出租车部门对政策的监管捕获的同时，最终确保了这一点由于选举制度和权力分立。在改革决定之前，的士持牌人及其政治支持者的利益使公共利益黯然失色。意识形态作为政策的背景发挥了重要作用，但意识形态并不是部长放松管制的主要原因。最后，我发现，由于无法处理相关信息并集体同意合理的妥协，出租车行业的集体非理性导致高估了他们的权力。该文件的主要建议是，政策制定手段应该进行彻底和创新的改革，监管机构必须利用出租车应用程序收集的大量信息来改善监管结果。