We’ve all been there.

Nothing puts a dampener on a night out than waiting two hours for a taxi in the pouring rain after closing time.

And with Cork’s population exploding and the busy Jazz Festival and Christmas party season on the horizon, it looks like finding a spin home is about to get even trickier.

Census 2022 shows that the population of Cork grew by eight percent to 584,156, which means the number of people in the county rose by 41,288 between April 2016 and April 2022.

Meanwhile, there are currently only around 1600 taxis in operation, down from almost 2000 ten years ago.

“This has a negative knock-on effect on both our hospitality and tourism industry,” said Jonathan Hehir, MD of Insuremytaxi.ie. Hehir believes that cheaper premiums will attract greater numbers to the taxi industry and bridge the gap between demand and supply.

“Being left stranded late at night because of a shortage of taxi drivers, particularly at busy times like Christmas or after concerts or festivals, is not a good selling point,” he said.

“The implications of an underserviced public are wide-ranging – of course, there’s the public safety element for people who cannot get home late at night. Unfortunately, drink-driving is also an issue. Not having a dependable means of transportation home may well entice people to break the rules around drink-driving.”

So what can be done here?

The insurance providers say that several years ago it became unaffordable for many people to pursue a career in the profession due to soaring insurance premiums, but that they believe that a new agreement they have reached with insurers should shave hundreds of euros off the average insurance premium, particularly for small public service vehicles outside of Dublin.

Mr Hehir is calling on the Government to provide more incentives for young people to enter the taxi business and to address the high insurance costs they often face.

“We would like to see young and middle-aged drivers entering the industry at a much earlier stage if that’s what they would like to do,” he said.

“With younger drivers struggling to secure insurance at affordable levels, it’s no surprise that recent figures show that a quarter (23 percent) of all taxi drivers are now aged over 66 and 15pc are over 70. The Government needs more young blood in this sector if it wants this country to have a sustainable and well-resourced taxi service.

“Otherwise, the taxi shortages currently being experienced by so many will only get worse.”