As the country faces into a taxi famine this weekend the Taoiseach has asserted that there can be no change in the Government's position on deregulation because it is the only way to get more taxis on the streets. Mr Ahern was speaking from the Croatian capital, Zagreb, where he was attending the Balkans summit.
Taxi drivers in Dublin earlier voted overwhelmingly, by 79%, to stay on strike ahead of Tuesday's meeting with the Junior Minister, Bobby Molloy. The drivers, who are members of the National Taxi Drivers' Union and the Taxi Federation, were told by their leaders that they were to conduct orderly pickets at the various taxi ranks around the city, but that there were to be no blockades of roads. SIPTU members, who met in Liberty Hall, supported their colleagues.
The President of SIPTU, Des Geraghty, appealed to Bobby Molloy not to issue new taxi plates while discussions over deregulation continued. In a letter to the minister, Mr Geraghty said that in view of the highly charged atmosphere, a moratorium on the issuing of new plates would help to create the right climate for dialogue. However, Mr Molloy said earlier that the deregulation of the industry would not be halted. Nearly 1,000 people are reported to have already visited Dublin Corporation offices to get application forms for the new taxi licences.
There was little sign today of any repetition of the protest action that caused traffic chaos in Dublin and other cities for the past two days. In Cork, taxi drivers voted by two to one not to return to work before next week's meeting. Taxi drivers in Limerick marched on city hall in protest at deregulation. There has been a skeleton service in Limerick since last night, but taxi leaders said that services would be withdrawn over the weekend. Taxis are not operating in either Galway or Waterford. Taxi drivers in Galway have called on Bobby Molloy to resign his seat in the constituency of Galway West.
