Taxi-drivers' union rejects responsibility

The fact that the Richardsons had tried unsuccessfully to hail a taxi before the attack was not reason to "somehow make taxi-drivers partly to blame", the vice-president of the Irish Taxi-Drivers' Union has said.

Mr Vincent Kearns was responding to discussion on yesterday morning's Marian Finucane Show on RTE Radio 1, in which it was suggested that if more taxis had been available the Richardsons would not have had to walk home.

Mr Tommy Gorman, the union president, extended his sympathy to the Richardsons but said he "absolutely rejected" the suggestion that his members were partially responsible.

"I can't accept that. The family could have availed of taxi-sharing at Foster's Place or Abbey Street where the wait that night was about 15 minutes. But perhaps they didn't know about it."

Mr Kearns said it had to be remembered that taxis were "just to complement the public transport system".

"We can't be expected to take over from it at 11 p.m. There may be a Nitelink service, but . . . it does not serve the whole city. If you want to blame taxi-drivers for the attack because there aren't enough, you can blame Dublin bus for it, too."

The Nitelink service, running on 16 corridors between 12.30 a.m. and 4.30 a.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, does not serve the Pearse Street/Ringsend area.

A Dublin Bus spokesman said the closest Nitelink would have brought the family to their destination was to Merrion Square or Jurys Hotel in Ballsbridge. The last No 3 bus, which serves Ringsend, leaves Whithall at 11.12 p.m. on Saturdays.