Taxis will not be available in Dublin from 10 a.m. today as drivers ballot on an all-out strike. Services in Dublin will be withdrawn until 2 p.m. as up to 3,000 taxi-drivers gather at the National Stadium to vote on whether to strike. This follows a day of unofficial action when taxi-drivers at Dublin Airport withdrew their services yesterday. Taxi-drivers are "furious", according to union leaders, following the announcement that the number of taxis operating in Dublin would double by May 2000.
The Minister of State for the Environment, Mr Bobby Molloy, said the decision to issue 3,100 new licences was a compromise between the PD preference for total deregulation and resistance to such a move from a number of Fianna Fail TDs.
Under the new licensing regime, ordinary licences will cost £2,500 while licences for wheelchair-accessible taxis will cost £2,000.
Mr John Ussher, president of the Irish Taxi Drivers Federation, said members were "in a state of shock". Some had remortgaged their homes to pay up to £80,000 for plates, and the decision to grant a further 3,100 licences in Dublin meant their income would be halved and their investments "wiped out".
Mr Vincent Kearns, vice-chairman of National Taxi Drivers Union said that in his 15 years working with taxi-drivers, he had "never seen anger like it".
Between 400 and 500 taxi-drivers gathered at the taxi-park near the Great Southern Hotel at Dublin Airport yesterday to voice their concerns to Mr Ussher and Mr Kearns.
They were angry that they had not been consulted by the Minister before the announcement was made, saying they first heard of the new licences through the media.
Whatever action was taken at this morning's meeting, said Mr Kearns, would be unified. He said there would be no strike pay for members during any strike, though he added that his members felt they had nothing to lose by protesting and possibly "everything to lose" if the new licences were issued.
The Department of the Environment said the Minister urged taxi-drivers to study the plan. "It is a plan intended to create more business for everybody," said a spokesman.
