Taxi drivers defer planned boycott of Ryder Cup

TAXI drivers last night put on hold a plan to boycott the prestigious Ryder Cup golf tournament next month.

Executives of the three main unions decided to invite Taxi Regulator Ger Deering to address drivers on his controversial fares structure plan.

Members of the National Taxi Drivers Union (NTDU), SIPTU and the Irish Taxi Drivers Federation voted a week ago to boycott the showcase golf tournament as part of their continuing dispute with Mr Deering.

The executives of the three unions decided to defer a plan of action and to meet again tomorrow afternoon.

NTDU general secretary Tommy Gorman explained: “An invitation has been extended to Mr Deering — on request from the members — to address a mass meeting of taxi drivers in Dublin at a venue to be announced.

“In order to facilitate that, and out of courtesy, we decided to adjourn today’s meeting until Thursday, with everything on hold.

“If Mr Deering comes back in the meantime and accepts the invitation, we will obviously arrange a venue, time and date that suits him.”

A spokesperson for the Taxi Regulator had insisted the new fares’ plan — due to be introduced on September 25 — will not be renegotiated as it has already been signed into law.

The spokesperson said the Commission for Taxi Regulation would review the new national maximum taxi fare on an ongoing basis, with a full review scheduled to take place no later than 2008.

At last week’s meeting, drivers also agreed to refuse to pay a €500 annual fee to the Dublin Airport Authority for operating at the airport. In the last month, taxi drivers held two one-day work stoppages in protest over the fee.

Under the new national fare structure minimum charges will be set at €3.80, or €4.10 at premium times, replacing the system where fares were set by individual local authorities. The new structure also sees the abolition of luggage charges and a €1.50 hiring charge for pick-ups from Dublin airport. Unions claim the changes will badly affect drivers’ incomes.

If the dispute with the Taxi Regulator is not resolved drivers could refuse to take fares to the tournament and not respond to calls for pick-ups from the event in Straffan, Co Kildare, from September 22 to 24.