Madam, – Ken Johnstone (Opinion, March 19th) complains about a huge increase in taxi numbers since deregulation in 2000, which he claims has led to lower incomes and longer hours for drivers.
This is unfortunate for taxi drivers, but they are not the only sector of the Irish workforce suffering at present. Many construction workers, for example, have no option but to sign on the dole.
He accuses the Government of “blatant disregard for the welfare of workers” (taxi-drivers) and of “showing nothing but contempt for the taxi drivers’ representative bodies and their genuine concerns”.
Taxi drivers fought hard to prevent the deregulation of their industry and, in doing so, demonstrated blatant disregard for the welfare of the travelling public who often had to wait three hours on a Saturday night for a taxi home. They showed contempt for their customers’ genuine concerns by insisting on maintaining an artificial monopoly to preserve the value of their taxi licences. The period before 2000 may have been a golden era for taxi drivers, but not for the travelling public.
Mr Johnstone criticises the taxi regulator, Kathleen Doyle, for “championing the cause of the customer”. Perhaps if Ireland had had more Kathleen Doyles it would not have become so expensive and uncompetitive.
Mr Johnstone assures people that they can look forward to “even more traffic chaos and disruption in the coming weeks”; but he might do well to reflect, to borrow a phrase from Gerry Adams, that nobody has a monopoly on suffering. – Yours, etc,