A row has erupted among Athlone’s taxi drivers, resulting in the resignation of the chairman of the Athlone Taxi Federation earlier this week. Chairman Paddy O’Callaghan, stepped down at a meeting on Tuesday evening after a vote of no confidence was passed in his leadership.
Mr O’Callaghan claims the issue arose when a number of drivers, who had been attending a separate ‘rival’ meeting, arrived towards the end of the Taxi Federation meeting.
“We were discussing the issue of taxi ranks and the fines, and Boxer was delivering some information from the town council meeting. We were about to come to a conclusion when the crowd started to get bigger - there were people arriving who had never attended a meeting before. I was questioned about the ranks by a group who want new ranks, and want them now.”
However, Mr O’Callaghan says that despite the frustration of a number of drivers with the lack of progress on new ranks for the town and the recent issuing of on-the-spot fines, knee-jerk reactions will not solve the problems.
“We talk to people and discuss things, and we appear to be making some headway. These guys started shouting, they wanted to close the meeting and I was abused and insulted, so I resigned as chair. However after the meeting I got a lot of support from people saying they didn’t want me to step down,” he explained.
A meeting of the Athlone Taxi Federation has been reconvened for next Tuesday evening in the Shamrock Lodge Hotel, to which all of the town’s taxi drivers are being invited. Mr O’Callaghan says that a vote will be taken before the meeting, and that if a new committee and chairperson are elected he will support them. “Most of the people who would support me were not at Tuesday’s meeting. The other group who walked in late didn’t know where we were at in the discussions,” he said.
In the past week Mr O’Callaghan has received communication from the Taxi Regulator’s head of enforcement Eddie Fullerton, in response to a letter he (O’Callaghan ) wrote asking that fines received by a number of drivers be re-examined. “We got a very positive response. We didn’t threaten to pull taxis off the road, but explained that drivers are experiencing financial hardship, that there is a lack of ranks on the west side of town, and that we are talking to the town council about getting extra ranks. The reply thanked me for the constructive words, and promised they would contact me soon. Everyone agrees the fines were steep.”
The provision of extra taxi ranks was discussed at some length at Monday’s meeting of Athlone Town Council in response to a motion by Cllr Paul Hogan. It was agreed that a taxi rank at Barrack Street would be reinstated immediately. Town clerk John Walsh also told councillors he had written to the Taxi Regulator seeking guidelines regarding ranks, but that this information would not be available until next year. The council can look into the provision of additional ranks, which can only be provided following a process of public consultation.
Cllr Paul Hogan argued strongly that loading bays should be available as taxi ranks after business hours, as is the case in a number of towns and cities across the country, while Cllr Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran added that the handing out of €250 fines to taxi drivers two weeks ago had only happened because there were no ranks.
