Transport Department to intervene in taxi row

Officials at the Department of Transport were today preparing to intervene in the increasingly bitter dispute by taxi drivers against new fare structures.

As drivers agreed to lift the threat of further strike action, the department confirmed a meeting between unions and senior civil servants would go ahead later today.

A 24-hour stoppage had been planned for Thursday but the Irish Taxi Drivers’ Federation (ITDF) postponed it following a request from the department.

Officials there had refused to meet taxi drivers’ representatives while the threat remained.

Transport Minster Martin Cullen will not be attending.

The meeting comes after around 1,000 drivers caused massive traffic chaos across Dublin yesterday by blocking O’Connell Street for several hours.

It was the fourth stoppage by taxi men and women since July in what has become an increasingly bitter row over plans by Regulator Ger Deering to bring in a new fare structure.

Leaders of the three unions, ITDF, the National Taxi Drivers’ Union and Siptu, are to appeal against new fare structures, due to come into force in Ryder Cup week, to officials from the Department of Transport.

Unions claim the new fares system will have a devastating impact on drivers’ incomes.

The three unions represent 14,000 of the state’s 17,000 taxi drivers. Around 10,000 of those have vowed to strike during the prestigious Ryder Cup golf tournament.

The new scheme will introduce a minimum charge set at €3.80, or €4.10 at premium times, replacing the system where fares were set by individual local authorities.

It also sees the abolition of luggage charges and a €1.50 hiring charge for pick-ups from Dublin Airport.

Tommy Gorman, of the National Taxi Drivers’ Union, apologised to commuters for the spontaneous stoppage, which intensified as anger grew among concerned drivers.

“We hope this situation will never happen again,” he said.

“I will do all in my power today with the other two unions to have it (Thursday’s protest) cancelled. This meeting today is the breakthrough we have been waiting for.”

Ger Deering, of the Commission for Taxi Regulation, has continuously said the fare changes will take effect from September 25, but vowed that a full review of all changes will take place no later than 2008.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Transport said officials would meet union leaders today on condition that Thursday’s pending stoppage was cancelled.

Mr Gorman slammed comments by Fine Gael transport spokeswoman Olivia Mitchell who said gardaí should have removed the protesters from O’Connell Street or arrested them.

“I think the gardai acted responsibly,” he told RTE Radio. “They used a lot of discretion, had great patience with the situation, and if they had have done what Ms Mitchell described, God knows what would have happened.”