Taxi drivers in Mullingar and Athlone took part in a three-hour protest yesterday (March 18 ) by picketing the Church Lane rank in Mullingar and turning their roof signs sideways in Athlone.
There are plans to extend this to a one day strike on Monday (March 22 ), with the possibility of further escalation.
They went out in sympathy with the national protest in the industry over the Taxi Regulator’s failure to respond to an 11-point demand submitted by taxi representatives last week. These include a cap on the issuing of new licences, and to make roof lights identifiable by county.
Athlone Taxi Federation held a meeting on Tuesday evening this week, at which members agreed to strike yesterday if no response was received.
“We want the public to know what’s going on and to gain public support. Many drivers are saying they could not afford to change their car. I paid €6,500 for my plate, and after April it will be worth nothing,” said Niall Moore, a member of Athlone Taxi Federation. Mr Moore alerted drivers to the strike over local radio yesterday.
“The plan is for one-day strikes or go out all together, we don’t know yet,” said John Doyle of the Mullingar taxi drivers.
“Frank Fahey [national organiser] will start that ball rolling. If he says we’re all out, we’re all out. We don’t want to cause havoc on the streets of Mullingar but there will be some sort of action taken. There has to be”.
It is not yet known how many of the 330 taxis licensed in Mullingar or the 170 in Athlone intend to take part in the planned actions.
Another taximan who didn’t want to be named spoke of there being “no togetherness in Mullingar”, before pointing out how hard it was to make a full-time living out of the business with the number of pensionable, former public sector staff who taxi part-time.
He also lamented the lack of etiquette that had crept into the trade, as well as illegal practices.
“People take their turn and queue up for their pints. Why don’t they do that at the rank?” he said, before alluding some questionable practices by some of his less scrupulous colleagues, He also criticised the proliferation of rented taxis “coming from all over the place and not accountable to anyone”, and claimed his income had fallen by two thirds in the last three years.
Since Bobby Molloy deregulated the industry in 2002, the national fleet of taxis has risen from around 9,000 to 27,100.
The 11-point plan submitted last week by the Irish Taxi Council (ITC ) was basically the report by the Oireachtas transport committee on the industry that was recommended to the Minister, but “totally ignored”, according to ITC president Frank Byrne.
Some other points included in the proposal include a language proficiency test, an improved driving test, improved enforcement and insurance checking.
At the moment there are just nine enforcement officers covering the 27,100 strong fleet, and there is a 92 per cent failure rate in applicants who take the knowledge test, acccording to the office of the taxi regulator.
