Taxi drivers have no right to block traffic

PUBLIC sympathy for the taxi drivers is low because the public memory is long. For years the citizens of Ireland were held to ransom by the taxi business with restrictive practices and extortionate fares. How many people queued for hours or had to walk home in the rain because this business was restricted by regulation?

Protesting taxi drivers have deliberately blocked people going about their business in the capital. If I park on O’Connell Street my car will be ticketed, clamped or towed away before I have time to lock the doors. If any other group used cars to block a city in protest, they would be arrested. Why did the gardaí not ticket, clamp or tow these vehicles. Why are taxi drivers allowed to operate outside the law?

Taxi drivers have every right to protest. But they do not have the right to use cars to strangle the city centre.