Senator Eileen Flynn tells of how taxi driver refused to bring her to halting site

Senator Eileen Flynn, a member of the Traveller community, has spoken about how a taxi driver refused to bring her home to a halting site earlier this week.

During a Seanad debate on Thursday, she told colleagues how the previous night she had hailed a taxi on Dublin’s St Stephen’s Green but the driver refused to enter a halting site in Ballyfermot.

She said she tried to speak to the driver, telling him she was a public representative and would not pay up if he did not take her to her destination. When he threatened to call gardaí, she called them instead, and she told the driver “you’re the one that’s committing the crime, not me”. She said the operator on the phone said it was a waste of Garda time but Ms Flynn stressed it was a crime that she was not being taken to where she wished to go. She explained she was not going to allow any harm to come to the driver. The driver then said he would take her home if the operator stayed on the line until she arrived at the location.

“So I had to go through all of that,” she said.

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Ms Flynn, who was appointed to the Seanad to represent the Traveller community, continued: “If I went on to be the president of Ireland, a top surgeon or whatever I may wish to be, no matter what or who I am, to many people I am still just a member of the Traveller community.

“I am still just a pikey and a knacker; somebody who came from absolutely nothing. I felt that right to the gut of my stomach last night.”

She added that she welcomed the hate crime legislation that will be brought before the Seanad in coming weeks but said: “We’ve a long way to go before we tackle racism in this country”.

“Unfortunately when you’re a member of the Traveller community even in 2023″ whether a Senator or anything else “you will experience racism and discrimination”.

She encouraged others who found themselves in a similar situation to call the Garda “because you’re not wasting the guards’ time, you’re not committing the crime, the person who is refusing you to bring you home is committing the crime”.

Ms Flynn received supportive comments from a number of Seanad colleagues. Senator Niall Blaney said her treatment was “atrocious” and congratulated her for describing the experience during the debate

Alan Cooley, president of the Irish Taxi Drivers Federation, said on Friday drivers had sometimes encountered negative experiences in halting sites with regard to non-payment but that did not justify Ms Flynn’s experience.

While he was unfamiliar with, and could not comment on, the specifics of her journey, he said generally it was a “tricky situation” for drivers judging individual fares.

“Of course it’s terrible that she wasn’t brought into [the halting site], that’s terrible,” he said, adding that he was sure it had been “a very bad experience”.

“I have heard so many bad experiences [for taxis], I can understand why the taxi driver didn’t take her in there but that doesn’t make it right either. But it’s a tricky situation at night-time.”

According to the National Transport Authority, a taxi driver may only refuse service for a journey exceeding 30km. Although some “specific circumstances” allow a driver to refuse service, none would appear to fit the situation outlined by Ms Flynn or relate to a drivers’ reluctance to enter a particular destination.

“It is also a legal obligation that all drivers of small public service vehicles ‘comply with the reasonable requirements of any passenger’ and also that they shall not ‘discriminate against any passenger or intending passenger’,” a spokesman said, quoting regulations.

An “unreasonable refusal” of service can result in a €150 fine, while a driver failing to comply with a “reasonable requirement of a passenger” or “discriminating against a passenger” may be prosecuted in court and face fines of up to €2,500 and €5,000 respectively. Discrimination, under existing taxi regulations is considered a “substantial breach”.