Public stranded by 24-hour taxi stoppage

THE public were left almost entirely without taxi services yesterday as drivers demanded the suspension of new licences and a review of the taxi industry.

For 24 hours, thousands of drivers mounted pickets at taxi ranks in all the major population centres, protesting at the Goodbody report on the industry which found there were not too many licences and drivers’ wages were not being driven down by the massive increase in driver numbers.

The drivers claim they have found up to 100 mistakes in that report and say its data is six months out of date.

In Cork, the protestors burnt a copy of the Goodbody report in front of the company’s offices in the city centre. In Waterford, drivers borrowed a hearse and drove it through the city followed by 200 taxis, while in Dublin 600 drivers converged on ranks throughout the city.

At Dublin Airport, SIPTU maintained a weekly picket stopping passengers being picked up from the airport during the morning peak-time. The 24-hour protest was organised by Taxi Drivers For Change, representing independent drivers as well as those in a number of taxi unions. They claimed up to 90% of the country’s 27,000 drivers observed the action.

“This is a direct response to the Goodbody report which we find to be unintelligible to a great extent,” said Frank Byrne of Taxi Drivers for Change.

“In our analysis we turned up over 100 mistakes in the report including some simple mathematical errors. The data contained within it was also six months out of date. The economic situation has declined substantially since then,” he said. “The report has done nothing to address the hardship being experienced by drivers and their families.

“There are no criticisms of the taxi regulator or her office in the report, so we question the independence of it.”

Mr Byrne said the drivers were now looking for Transport Minister Noel Dempsey to act.

“We place no faith in the regulator because she is holding this report up as the indicator for which way the industry must go in the future. That report is a work of fiction — we understand [Oireachtas Transport Committee Chairman] Frank Fahey has compared it to the Beano,” he said. “We have solutions which we will be putting forward to the minister.”

The drivers intend to maintain the pressure on the Government to act and will escalate their actions if necessary.

“The protests will continue until the minister acknowledges us and allows us to participate in a review of the industry. It will have to escalate because having a protest like this every week will lose us the public support which we have been getting. We have not decided how we will escalate it.”