The February 2016 general election was in full swing when former Department of Finance secretary general John Moran sent a note about the Fine Gael manifesto to his lobbying clients in Uber, the US cab-hailing company that was angling for a big chunk of Ireland’s taxi market.
“You’ll recognise the text,” he wrote.
Fine Gael had backed the “sharing economy” in the manifesto, the stated aim being to place Ireland at the fore of digital innovation and promote “safe and reliable” regulation.
When then taoiseach Enda Kenny published the document on St Valentine’s Day six years ago, this may well have appeared like just another bland election promise to keep pace with the internet revolution. But the San Francisco-based company claimed privately to have written some of it at least, backing up Moran’s assertion that Fine Gael’s document would not come as a surprise.
The public commitment from Fine Gael after overtures from Uber came despite friction between the company and Irish regulators who were opposing its efforts to rewrite the rules of the game.
Moran started working for Uber in 2015 at a time when the company believed it had “reached a block” with the National Transport Authority, the body which oversees the taxi sector, and was trying to circumvent it with mainly Fine Gael ministers, political advisers and top civil servants.
Explainer: What is Uber and how does its business model work?
Car-hailing company Uber was set up in San Francisco in 2009 and now operates in more than 10,000 cities and 70 countries around the world. It is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and is valued at more than $44 billion (€41 billion). The company took in almost $26 billion in gross bookings last year. The business operates a model where it signs up drivers to an online platform, allowing them to use their own cars to pick up passengers by accepting bookings through an app. The model works on the basis that drivers are not required to be licensed as a taxi or limo driver.
Uber has been described as a “disruptive technology” as it threatens the traditional model of taxi and limousine hire. It has encountered strong opposition from taxi drivers across Europe who see the model as encroaching on their long-standing business. Irish law poses major restrictions for Uber and the business model, requiring anyone carrying passengers for profit to have a taxi licence. There is a limited Uber service in Dublin but only for licensed taxi drivers.
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said in June that he may look at easing Irish taxi regulations for Uber and another ride-sharing service, Lyft, to help solve the country’s taxi shortage.
As Kenny campaigned to “keep the recovery going” in the wake of the financial crisis, Uber said in an internal report: “The current largest party – Fine Gael – published their election manifesto and included text we supplied them on the sharing economy.”
These records are among a cache of more than 124,000 files leaked to the Guardian and provided to the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, a network of reporters involving more than 100 media groups including The Irish Times, the Washington Post and Le Monde.
Political acceptance
Known collectively as “The Uber Files”, the records cast a light on the company’s campaign around the world to boost political acceptance of a cab-hailing app that was making fast inroads in hundreds of global cities but faced challenges in many countries, Ireland among them.
They consist of emails, iMessages, LinkedIn and WhatsApp exchanges between top Uber executives and with private lobbyists working for the company, as well as memos, presentations, notebooks, briefing papers and invoices. They span the period from 2013 to 2017, providing insight into under-the-radar lobbying tactics in countries such as Ireland as Uber tried to break down regulators’ resistance to services that defied the established conventions of the taxi industry.
Uber expected the Fine Gael document to mention the sharing economy because of Moran’s contacts with Andrew McDowell, Kenny’s economic adviser and a key member of the taoiseach’s tight inner circle. Moran told Uber he sent a text to McDowell when the manifesto was published “to see if we should come out specifically to support [it] or just continue with supportive briefing more quietly. No reply yet.”
But that was not the only line of contact. Uber executives met Kenny at the World Economic Forum in Davos – the Swiss ski resort that hosts business and political leaders every year – the month before the election. Uber briefing notes for talks with the taoiseach said “our ask” included “manifesto commitments from the major political parties to foster innovation and sharing economy – ideally, with specific reference to transport”.
[ The Uber Files timeline: How the company lobbied the Irish government to approve its business model ]
[ How Uber lobbied the world’s political elite to try and get its way ]
Uber’s primary focus was on Fine Gael, the party which was apparently best-placed to win the election. But some in Uber also saw potential for the taoiseach to convey support for the company with his EU counterparts.
One 2015 file mentions the possibility of Uber’s then chief Travis Kalanick visiting Ireland for a meeting with Kenny, not long after an Uber jobs announcement.
“He’d get a very warm welcome,” wrote Mark MacGann, the Irishman who was Uber’s chief European lobbyist. “It would also create a strong ally within the European PM [prime ministers’] network, on whom we could then rely to support us in public and behind the scenes with fellow centre-right leaders. Just a thought.”
In Davos preparing for talks with the taoiseach, one Uber executive wrote: “Enda Kenny matters and we should not be late for that meeting.” Another file said: “We have to make a big push with government to get reform (after the impending elections), or else withdraw from the country. The meeting in Davos with Enda Kenny will be important in this regard.”
Despite tensions with the Irish regulator and its opposition to an Uber pilot scheme in Limerick, the company’s internal note on the Davos meeting said the taoiseach’s response was positive: “Enda Kenny was generally supportive, but said nothing would [h]appen by the election. He did however propose a pilot in Limerick after that – or to be more accurate said that should be possible.”
Moran, a former senior banker, had run the Department of Finance for two years, becoming the first outsider to do so after his appointment by then finance minister Michael Noonan. The two men are from Limerick, living at one point in neighbouring estates. Moran’s top role in the department placed him in the epicentre of power as the Fine Gael-Labour coalition battled to overcome the financial crash. He resigned unexpectedly in 2014, saying his work was done, but kept his high-level contacts in Merrion Street.
After leaving the department Moran established a consulting business – Red House Hill International, an unlimited company which has no requirement to publicly file its financial accounts – advising private clients including Uber and lobbying government on their behalf. After one meeting for Uber with the top civil servant in the Department of Transport, he described playing the “honest broker” in the discussion.
Contacts between Moran and Uber was initiated by MacGann, who indicated that Uber was interested in his links with the minister.
“John, if I was theoretically going to create some significant jobs in, let’s say, Limerick, how could I get in touch with Michael Noonan to give him the news before it, hypothetically, got leaked to media by local real estate people? Much appreciated,” wrote MacGann in April 2015.
Moran’s response was clear: “Easy. You could just give me a heads up and I’ll ring him or text him. If it were one of the others then you might need to reach out to their advisor or private secretary. More importantly if you are thinking [L]imerick and need help, I am happy to chat.”
Special access
The records show Moran claimed special access to Noonan in his work for Uber – in effect a back-channel – saying, when preparing an Uber event in January 2016 to launch its Limerick service centre, that he could drop a “separate note” from the company to the minister’s house on a Sunday “without it forming part of the official” departmental records.
In another message saying he could leave some documents “without ringing the bell”, Moran told MacGann: “If he texted back to come in, well that is something different.” MacGann had asked whether Noonan might be available for a private chat in Limerick.
“Alternatively try [B]obby Byrne’s or [S]outh’s and you might find him ‘resting’ anyway!” wrote Moran, referring to well-known pubs in the city.
Given tension with the regulator, MacGann endorsed the idea of providing a separate note to Noonan. MacGann said the official note, as then cast, could give the impression that all was fine for Uber in Ireland when “in fact what we really need in order to have a business is light a fire under the current restrictive” regulatory framework.
“A more political note for Noonan would be good, in particular in light of the elections. If he only reads the current brief, he could be forgiven for wondering why we are lobbying. My last meeting with him demonstrated that he is quite uninformed on us,” wrote MacGann, who was born in Longford and raised in Roscommon.
The Irish Times asked Noonan about the special access that Moran claimed to have with him, being able to drop notes in the door of his home or seek him out in a Limerick pub. Noonan replied: `If he said that, he never did it.’
Moran separately said Noonan was “used to me giving him heads up briefings and discussing where his strategic push should be so I am happy to do that”. He added: “I would essentially be telling him that this is an opportunity to stake out a new strategic direction if he did not feel he was cutting across the Taoiseach.”
What is more, Moran was sufficiently confident of his standing with Noonan and his circle to say “don’t ever worry about bad blood” when Uber wondered whether it might change a ministerial quote for a draft press release: “I can always call [people close to him] and if it is a troublesome change they’ll just tell me.”
The Irish Times asked Noonan about the special access that Moran claimed to have with him, being able to drop notes in the door of his home or seek him out in a Limerick pub. Noonan replied: “If he said that, he never did it.”
Although Uber was then growing at breakneck speed around the world, it faced big hurdles in Ireland. Two months before the February 2016 election, transport officials had already rejected the company’s plan for a pilot ride-sharing programme in Limerick.
Despite that setback, Uber worked soon afterwards on a “sharing economy” text for possible inclusion in an annual update of the government’s job creation plan that was published the month before the election. Given huge employment losses in the crash, that was an important policy document.
When the “sharing economy” was not mentioned in the January 2016 jobs document, Moran told Uber he raised the matter directly with Kenny’s adviser. “Oh, forgot to say that when the sharing economy did not come up in the Action Plan for Jobs, I checked in with Andrew (McDowell) who confirmed that is however part of the manifesto for FG,” he told Uber, according to internal records.
McDowell declined to comment for this article when contacted by The Irish Times. One former Fine Gael figure acknowledged Moran “did offer to share ideas on the sharing economy”, but said the manifesto went beyond Uber as the party supported new business models.
“We certainly included ideas, as we did from lots of sources. We included ideas through John on that in the manifesto,” said the party figure.
Key demands pursued by Uber with the Irish authorities remain unrealised to this day. In June 2017, the year after Kenny returned to power at the helm of a minority government, regulators at the NTA definitively said Uber’s business model was not appropriate for Ireland.
Hugh Creegan, NTA director of transport investment and taxi regulation, said then that it was not possible to exempt Uber from regular taxi regulations without new legislation.
Creegan’s letter, released to media in 2017 under freedom of information laws, was addressed to Uber’s general manager in Ireland, Kieran Harte, who previously worked for The Irish Times Group, publisher of this story. “Notwithstanding the above legislative position, it should be stated that the NTA is unsupportive of this proposal,” he said.
“Operating parallel regulated and non-regulated regimes, even on a pilot basis, is undesirable in our view, and can only serve to undermine the regulated transport system. Requirements and costs are unequal and the issue of unfair competition arises. This is not an approach that could be supported by the NTA.”
Last month, however, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said the Government might yet reconsider access for services from Uber and rival Lyft because of the current taxi shortage. That is for the future. Still, the Uber files show how the company made concerted efforts to harness Moran’s access to the apex of the political system at a time when the company believed there could yet find a way of quickly deploying its model in Ireland.
Irish regulators clashed repeatedly with Uber over the business model; they were reluctant to meet the company after initial talks
Such strategies are not unusual: lobbying is a huge industry wherever politicians take decisions that can make or break business fortunes. But the Uber records provide deep insight into an international company’s moves behind the scenes to influence Ireland’s political system.
Irish regulators clashed repeatedly with Uber over the business model; they were reluctant to meet the company after initial talks; and they threatened prosecutions for any “over-charging” if the company’s high-demand “surge” pricing technology raised fares above the legal limit.
The records show how Uber wanted the government and IDA Ireland, the inward investment agency, to pressurise Creegan when he pushed back against overtures from the company in autumn 2014. “Can you give me the names, titles and contact details of the relevant people in government, plus IDA, so that I can get them to lean on this guy; this is not how Ireland operates,” MacGann wrote after Creegan declined his request for a meeting.
Asked whether Uber ever specifically asked IDA Ireland to use its influence to sway the NTA or any arm of government, an IDA spokesman said the State agency “facilitates meetings for clients” on a regular basis. “Guiding clients on their investment journey to locate their businesses in Ireland is a core part of the organisation’s work.”
Asked whether the IDA ever specifically contacted the NTA about its resistance to Uber’s business model, the spokesman said: “IDA Ireland does not discuss client issues.”
Five days after floating the idea of pressurising the IDA — at a time when Uber was preparing its response to Creegan — MacGann indicated that he was in contact with Kenny’s top aide Mark Kennelly and expected him to “prep” then transport minister Paschal Donohoe.
“Hold off on any letter please, I am due to speak to the Minister of Transport early next week,” MacGann wrote. “I have asked the Taoiseach’s chief of staff, Mark Kennelly, to prep the Minister, Pascal Donohue (sic), and tell him that the PM is favourable to Uber. We can then reply to Hugh’s letter and share it with the minister’s office.”
Kennelly declined to comment when contacted by The Irish Times. A Fine Gael source said the taoiseach was “favourable to all inward investment” at the time but insisted Kennelly categorically did not “prep” the then transport minister as described in internal Uber records.
“I can’t account for what they are saying internally but that definitely did not happen,” said the source.
In early 2015, Uber asked for a meeting at its headquarters with Donohoe when he visited the US west coast for St Patrick’s Day. Files prepared for that meeting show Uber saying it had “reached a block” with Dublin regulators, adding that “we need to get the Minister excited about the potential of the business” in Ireland. This was the “first direct engagement” with Donohoe.
“Uber had engaged with his predecessor’s office [Leo Varadkar] in 2014,” said an internal note. “His department has a close relationship with the regulator: the National Transport Authority. The regulator, however, has been inflexible in discussions and unwilling to consider innovation.”
Still, the mood appeared upbeat as Uber prepared to greet Donohoe.
“Enjoy the green pint with Paschal,” said a message to one of his San Francisco hosts. A separate message suggested bringing in “a keg or two of Guinness to the canteen at lunch to toast the minister. Add to that the correspondents of all Irish media in [San Francisco]. Well worth doing, easy to execute”.
When another Uber figure suggested offering Donohoe “a promo or some credit to try Uber out here”, two people raised legal concerns. “Is this seen as corrupting a public official though?” asked one. Another said: “The recovering lawyer in me would be very, very careful before providing anything for free to a foreign government official.”
Uber’s app makes it easier to swiftly hail a lift but it inflicted serious damage on entrenched taxi interests in many markets by allowing drivers use their own cars to provide a service with looser regulation and more flexible pricing than traditional taxis. So company engagements with governments around the world were intensely political as it tried to forge a path for technology that disrupted the way the cab business had operated for generations.
In Ireland, Uber’s ability to have some of its prerogatives reflected in the election manifesto of Fine Gael, the major government party, came despite tension with regulators.
True, little enough might turn on manifesto promises unless they are incorporated into the legislative agenda of the Cabinet and then the Dáil. But even a general reference favourable to a new economic sector – without constituting any commitment to Uber specifically – could be cited by the business in its dealings with public officials and administrators.
Asked about its response to Uber lobbying, Fine Gael said: “As is clear to anyone who has visited other countries, ride-sharing apps can play a useful role in public transport provision. This was reflected in the 2016 manifesto.”
Limerick pilot
By early 2016, the company’s fractious relationship with the NTA, the public body which regulates the taxi sector, was already clear. In simple terms, Uber saw it as a barrier to its progress. Transport officials had also signalled that Uber would be blocked from achieving one of its prime objectives in Ireland – the Limerick pilot.
The choice of Limerick originated with Uber, which believed the introduction of cab-sharing in a regional city would be an easier pill to swallow than in the large Dublin market. But the company soon faced resistance to the idea of providing a private car service like the one it offered in other countries.
The rejection of the pilot proposal came despite Uber creating hundreds of jobs in a Limerick service centre, an investment cast within the company as a “big splash” opening scope to pursue spinoff benefits for other corporate goals.
“As you may know, we are considering placing a service centre in Ireland (probably not Dublin) and want to use it to get some political leverage,” wrote Andrew Byrne, Uber’s head of policy for Ireland and the UK, before the company settled on Limerick in mid-2015.
When Moran started working for Uber, he was still Ireland’s director on the board of the European Investment Bank, a significant post in the huge EU lender that brings with it contact with top officials in Dublin and beyond. He remained with the EIB until 2018. In 2019 then housing minister Eoghan Murphy appointed him interim chairman of the Land Development Agency, the public body charged with building homes on State land. He stayed until May 2021.
Despite Moran’s top-ranking connections, Uber was keen to keep limits on his role. One file shows MacGann saying he saw the former Department of Finance chief as “political adviser” to the business. “But I don’t want him going around like a loose cannon (and as you know, Irish policy folks can have a tendency to do just that).”
Later, in an apparent reference to Marian Finucane’s radio show, MacGann told Moran: “Let’s not have you JM speaking in media on Uber, Finucane etc. That’s not how we roll.”
They suggest ministerial soundings on Uber were more positive than the regulatory pushback, but with no prospect of policy change before the election
On another occasion, weeks before the Limerick jobs plan was unveiled in July 2015, Moran told Uber he wanted to “make sure you’re not losing possible IDA grants” by moving too soon to make an announcement.
Moran also raised the prospect of Uber borrowing from the European Investment Bank, not for money reasons but as a means of gaining bureaucratic support: “I have wondered if Uber should ask for a small (€5m-€10m) R&D financing loan from the EIB as a way of getting European officialdom’s validation of its business model even if it does not need the cash but I do not even know how I raise that idea?”
But it is the descriptions of Moran’s personal contacts that stand out. The files reflect engagements not only with Noonan, but also with Donohoe, then justice minister Frances Fitzgerald and others, including Martin Fraser, then secretary general of the Department of the Taoiseach and soon to be Ireland’s ambassador in London. They suggest ministerial soundings on Uber were more positive than the regulatory pushback, but with no prospect of policy change before the election.
“Politically Min Donohue, Min Noonan and Min Fitzgerald and advisor to the Taoiseach have been advised and are supportive but not willing to take the flak pre an election,” said an Uber note in late January 2016, weeks before polling day. The government side denied making any such comments. Donohoe’s spokesman said: “The minister did not make any such remarks as claimed.”
Moran does not appear to have been the author of that file, although it also referred to his meeting with Fraser “in advance of” Kenny’s Davos talks “which I gather went well, and an Taoiseach now also supportive of a move after the election”.
Reporting to Uber on his meeting with Fraser, Moran said he asked about Graham Doyle, then recently installed secretary general of the Department of Transport and now secretary general at the Department of Housing. Like Moran, Doyle had spent time working in the private sector before joining the civil service.
“[Fraser] postulated that the SG [Doyle] and I should get along well as fellow ‘outsiders’, that he sees him as progressive and that he would be more than happy to introduce me,” Moran wrote.
“We agreed that I would do so as much on the idea of discussing common problems of coming in from outside but that ... should know I would be raising the Uber pilot with him too. Martin did not see anything moving before the election but agreed with our plan to get to know and explain in more detail to all the likely key people for the week after the new govt is established.”
Asked via the Department of the Taoiseach about such contacts with Moran, Fraser said the question of Uber establishing a cab-hailing “scheme” in Ireland would have been a matter for the Department of Transport and the NTA. “Anyone making representation on Uber’s behalf would have been directed to them.”
Moran reported to Uber in February 2016 on a meeting with Doyle, saying that their “casual coffee near his offices” went as well as he could have hoped. “Discussion about Uber proposal etc. Let him know I had discussed a little with Martin Fraser about the prospect of Uber getting frustrated about no progress and that market small relative to effort,” he said.
Uber’s lobbyist was pushing the case for the company both with the minister for transport, Donohoe, and the top official in his department at a time when his client was struggling to win over its deeply-sceptical regulator
“No guarantee existing service might continue but best he discuss that with Uber directly. I tried to play an honest broker trying to find solution. Mentioned what I had done for Zurich before getting Central Bank rules changed for banks and insurance companies.”
Moran also said Doyle appeared to have a concern at their meeting about “playing too strong a role” as a relative had a taxi dispatch business in Waterford.
Thus Uber’s lobbyist was pushing the case for the company both with the minister for transport, Donohoe, and the top official in his department at a time when his client was struggling to win over its deeply-sceptical regulator.
Doyle acknowledged meeting Moran to The Irish Times, saying they spoke about “a variety of pieces of work” Moran was doing since leaving the civil service, “including some work for Uber”.
Because Doyle did not want to engage with Moran on Uber, he advised Moran that the main point of engagement should be the NTA.
“To avoid further discussion, I also made reference to the fact that I had declared (to the then minister for transport) a potential for a perceived conflict of interest in the matter due to the fact that my father-in-law ran a taxi dispatch operation,” said Doyle.
Doyle said he made no offer or suggestion to work with Moran on issues concerning Uber. “As far as I can recall, we never engaged again on the subject.”
He added that he had “no control over how a conversation I have been involved in is subsequently reported by someone carrying out work for a particular organisation”.
Uber’s issues were “at all times dealt with through the appropriate objective channel with an outcome where Uber was unsuccessful in its efforts at that time, with proposals ultimately being rejected by the NTA”.
Trading text messages
At one point in May 2015, Moran described to Uber how he was “trading” text messages with Donohoe: “Was due to have a call this afternoon to see what can be set up. He’s just sent text to say he’s tied up in Cabinet and LRC [Labour Relations Commission] but due to call me later.”
In November 2015, just over one week before the pilot proposal went to the Department of Transport, MacGann sent a text message to Moran: “Need you to brief Paschal today. I did an interview in the Irish Times that will be published tomorrow and I need him on side.”
MacGann also sought access to Fitzgerald via Moran in the period before the submission went on. In October 2015, he asked Moran: “Can you get us in to see Frances Fitzgerald [as soon as possible]? Limerick pilot depends on Justice helping with driver background checks.”
Days after Uber made its proposal to the department, Moran described giving an unspecified document to the “Min for Justice when she was over for lunch at mine last weekend”. He added: “Paschal sounded negative about the use of Gardaí for vetting [for drivers] but said he’d talk more to me.”
Replying to questions, Fitzgerald said that as minister for justice she had “no line responsibility” for the issues raised by Moran and “did not take any action” in relation to them.
Global dominance
These kinds of political engagements marked a something of gear-change for Uber, which had visions of global dominance for its disruptive technology.
Fipra International, a public affairs consultancy working for Uber in European markets including Ireland, had earlier suggested the possibility of an Irish customer base being established “in exchange for” regulation change. “An agreement that allows the NTA and the Department [of Transport] to ‘save face’ while still giving Uber the flexibility it requires will be key,” Fipra said in March 2015.
Extraordinarily, Fipra also suggested Uber could ask former US president Bill Clinton or people in the Kennedy dynasty for public support in Ireland – people far removed from decision-making in Dublin. “A leading Irish American, such as a member of the Kennedy family, who could be quoted in Ireland in favour of Uber would assist,” it said.
“Similarly, [p]resident Clinton visits Ireland relatively regularly and Uber could use the opportunity to offer him a free service and be seen to be doing so. Fipra could assist capitalising on such support.”
There is nothing in the Uber files to suggest that the unlikely suggestions from Fipra, which sought a €7,500 monthly retainer, ever gained traction.
MacGann told colleagues internally: “So this is very disappointing and it is now time to get political. Did John Moran go to the meeting? Now is time for him to earn his keep.”
Moran’s high-level access was clear but so too were Uber’s expectations.
This was the response from MacGann to a message saying the formal Limerick pilot proposal had gone to the Department of Transport: “Can we make sure we are getting value from our 10k for Moran; have him talk to Donahue (sic.) and apply pressure before the officials have the time to poop all over this.”
The next month – December 2015 – Department of Transport officials delivered “a pretty definitive no on the idea of a pilot in Limerick (or anywhere else in Ireland)” in talks with Uber.
Replying to questions, the department said it made clear at this meeting – requested by Uber – that significant changes in policy and legislation would be required for the Limerick pilot and “that no consideration was being given to such changes”.
At the time, MacGann told colleagues internally: “So this is very disappointing and it is now time to get political. Did John Moran go to the meeting? Now is time for him to earn his keep.”
MacGann added: “I can also write to Noonan, a short (sic) of a ‘shot across the bow’, regretting that Ireland wants the investment and can talk the talk etc. but obviously doesn’t want to walk the walk. I can do it super politely but in a manner that will make him sit up and listen. John is only just ‘in the door’ so to speak so not sure he totally sees all the avenues here.”
Noonan told The Irish Times that neither Moran or anyone else lobbied him to make representations to the Department of Transport about the regulations blocking Uber. If Uber had a transport problem, his view was that it should raise this directly with that department or the regulator.
The former finance minister said he had no sense Uber tried to use the Limerick service centre, or the jobs created in it, as “political leverage” to lean on the government to seek a change in regulations to permit Uber’s business model.
“Well, they never lent on me anyway,” said Noonan.
A person with a Fine Gael background said there was a difference between what lobbyists told their clients government officials were doing for them and what such officials were actually doing: “That’s what lobbyists do: they go back and say they have got the whole system working for them.”
Uber continued to vent frustration with the situation in Ireland. In December 2016, Byrne criticised what he described as a “lack of original thinking in the NTA” and said Shane Ross, then transport minister, “has been polite and interested, but lacking backbone as far as we can tell right now”.
The company has not given up on Ireland or the government. Even though its business model was rejected by Irish regulators, it operates a limited service using licensed taxi drivers.
Last month, head of rides for Uber Ireland, Laurent Slits, met Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan after the firm requested a meeting. The department said that Uber told it during the meeting that it was satisfied with the regulations “as it’s clear to the company how it can legally operate here”.
In response to queries, the NTA told The Irish Times that it never perceived any undue pressure, explicit or implicit, from any government or Department of Transport figures over its dealings with Uber. The department kept it up to date about Uber’s views and conversations with the department, the NTA added.
“NTA is not aware of any inappropriate interaction between the company and cabinet members or senior civil servants,” said a spokesman.
Uber told The Irish Times that it “continues to have a transparent and constructive relationship with the NTA who have not raised any issues directly with us about how we have engaged with them or other policymakers”.
The company’s objective between 2014 and 2016 was “to work with governments to find ways to modernise or create new regulations that would be adapted to modern life”.
“I am very happy to have been asked by Uber to play my part to help them try and modernise Ireland’s taxi industry.”
— John Moran
It said it had “long championed rules and regulations that reflect changing technology and correspond with the interests of our customers and those earning on our platform.”
“The idea that this was done secretly is nonsense,” Uber said.
Asked about his lobbying and his many interactions on behalf of the US company, Moran told The Irish Times: “I am very happy to have been asked by Uber to play my part to help them try and modernise Ireland’s taxi industry.”
In a statement to The Irish Times, Fine Gael defended lobbying in general as “an important part of the democratic process as it allows a huge diversity of issues to be raised directly with the Government.” This included commercial organisations.
“Some of these issues raised go on to influence policy, some of them don’t,” it said.
“To prevent lobbying from taking place would essentially be limiting access by anyone to their elected representatives,” said the government party.
For all its efforts, the attempts to break into the Irish market with its business model came to nought.
The NTA said Uber in Ireland “is and always” has been a licensed dispatch operator and booking service service using licensed drivers and vehicles like any other taxi operator.
Despite the many obstacles it has encountered in Ireland, Dublin still holds a crucial place in Uber’s mythology. When it was a start-up in 2011, a key $26.5 million investment was secured on the fringes of the Web Summit tech conference. The deal was settled over a drink in Bruxelles pub and finalised shortly afterwards at the Shelbourne Hotel. That was but the beginning.
