Fun cruise for 1,400 children in capital

DECKED out in flags, balloons and posters hundreds of Dublin taxi drivers switched off their meters yesterday as they treated more than a thousand children to a day out at the Ambrosia Dublin Taxi Drivers Special Children’s Outing.

Around 1,400 children with special needs danced and cheered to swinging tunes from the Garda band at a street party before a convoy of cabs paraded through the city centre for a day of fun.

Taxi man and organiser Tom Colgan, who has been involved in the day out for 26 years, was flanked by a dozen garda as the parade headed through the capital’s streets.

Mr Colgan said: “It is a very important day for the children. For a lot of them it’s their only big day out in the year.

“It’s brilliant and seeing how the children enjoy the day makes all our efforts worth it,” he said.

The annual Dublin Taxi Drivers Special Children’s Outing, which has been running for the past 46 years, takes children from across the capital out of care centres to a day of fun once a year.

Parents, children, carers and the taxi drivers were joined at the street party by the city’s Lord Mayor Catherine Byrne and television presenter Kathryn Thomas.

The Lord Mayor said: “It is a wonderful and happy and exciting occasion for everyone especially for the children and their families and the taxi drivers who have given up their time to be here.”

Kathryn Thomas, who had flown back from filming in Bulgaria to attend the party, said it was great to see taxi men getting some praise for a change.