Cab drivers apologise for Dublin blockade
Taxi drivers tonight apologised for blocking off part of central Dublin for almost two days in a protest over regulation of the industry.
The action on O’Connell Street was called off this afternoon after the recently established Irish Taxi Council met with Department of Transport officials over their concerns.
Frank Byrne, president of the drivers’ organisation, said a request to meet with Transport Minister Noel Dempsey was refused, but they were granted assurances on new restrictions for drivers to operate within designated areas.
Officials also vowed to stem “double-jobbing” – where people with full-time jobs also taxi on a part-time basis – through new vetting procedures on taxi-licence renewals, he said.
Mr Byrne said they were sorry for the disruption caused to commuters and businesses since Thursday morning but insisted they were forced to take the action after drivers depressed at their working conditions killed themselves.
“We apologise unconditionally to the travelling public and the traders for the inconvenience caused,” he said.
“We hope that they would understand that our drivers were driven to a level despair that they felt they had no option but to protest in that fashion.”
Mr Byrne claimed membership of the Irish Taxi Council was almost 5,000 state-wide, but added it was “hard to say” what the number was exactly.
The Irish Taxi Council is to meet again with the Department of Transport before October 15, after what department officials described as a “positive meeting”.
Tom Coffey, of Dublin City Business Association, said the taxi driver blockade was unacceptable and irresponsible at a time of recession.
The capital’s city centre is the engine of the Irish economy and drivers were standing in the way of people’s constitutional right to free movement, he claimed.
“We can not have a situation where a small number of people deny constitutional rights to all other citizens,” he said.
Accusing the authorities of using double-standards, Mr Coffey said innocent law-abiding drivers visiting Dublin were getting penalty points in a “heavy handed fashion” at College Green, because of new traffic restrictions they were unaware of, while taxi drivers were allowed to block off the capital’s main thoroughfare just metres away.
“The Gardaí are obliged to enforce the law universally, and not selectively,” he said.
“I think this a really fundamental problem.”
A Garda spokesman said: “Persons are entitled to engage in a peaceful protest without any type of prior authorisation or permission from An Garda Siochana.
“Quite often policing such events involves balancing the rights of those who wish to make a peaceful protest and with the rights of parties who are not involved.
“This is done on an individual basis having regard to all the circumstances of the case.”
