Dublin, Cork, Galway and Limerick face a vastly reduced taxi service this weekend as cabdrivers continue their strike.
Picketing is expected at taxi ranks and major transport hubs, including Dublin Airport. Road blockades are also threatened, although the three main taxi unions are discouraging their members from participating in any disruptive activity.
The unions reacted angrily last night to the Taoiseach's ruling out of a re-negotiation of the deregulation reforms, signed into law on Tuesday.
Speaking from Zagreb, Mr Ahern said the Government was standing by its decision, and Tuesday's meeting between the unions and the Minister of State, Mr Robert Molloy, would deal only with elements of the new arrangement.
Mr Tommy Gorman of the National Taxi Drivers' Union said drivers felt let down by the Taoiseach. "We hope this meeting on Tuesday will be open-ended," he said.
Mr John Ussher, president of the Irish Taxi-Drivers' Federation, warned that further disruption could be expected if progress was not made. Of possible protests this weekend, he warned: "The mood is one of extreme anger, and we may not be able to keep control".
Up to 2,000 drivers from the two unions were balloted in Dublin yesterday, with 79 per cent in favour of maintaining strike action until Tuesday. The unions will hold a joint rally at the National Stadium tomorrow.
Mr Des Geraghty, general president of SIPTU, the third union representing drivers, appealed to Mr Molloy not to issue new taxi plates while talks took place.
Dublin Corporation had sent out 39 plate numbers by close of business yesterday, and had received about 200 applications.
The first licences, however, will not be issued for a few weeks as applicants must first get roadworthiness certificates and ensure their vehicles are properly taxed and insured.
Ms Eileen Brady, assistant principal officer with Dublin Corporation's office of the director of traffic, said: "Nearly all the applicants are at present in the industry, either as taxi or hackney-drivers". As a result the new plates would not necessarily mean extra cabs on the streets.
Of the 200 applications to date, only 20 have been for wheelchair accessible cabs, a plate for which costs just £100, compared to £5,000 for an ordinary cab.
Another surge in applications is expected next week ahead of the talks. Ms Brady said the corporation had handed out more than 3,000 application forms.
Last night striking drivers in the capital held a protest at St Stephen's Green and withdrew services from ranks.
It was a similar story in Cork where 216 cabs went off duty, and in Galway, where the three main taxi companies continued to withhold their services. Limerick appeared to have been least affected, with normal service for most of the day following a protest at the City Hall by 80 drivers.
Meanwhile, the Minister of State, Mr Willie O'Dea, found himself at the centre of a political storm after characterising the taxi reforms as a PD initiative. The Government Chief Whip, Mr Seamus Brennan, rang Mr O'Dea yesterday on the instructions of the Taoiseach to express the Government's unhappiness with his remarks.
Fine Gael's spokeswoman on traffic, Ms Olivia Mitchell TD, said Mr Ahern should sack Mr O'Dea for his "pathetic attempts to pander to the taxi lobby".
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