Saturday 16 February 2008

The Country Cousins Are Getting Fractious

It begins:

  • Limerick
LIMERICK City Council passed a motion this Monday, tabled by Cllr. Kevin Kiely, Cllr. Jim Long and Cllr. Kieran Walsh.

It stated, "the industry is over saturated and is not sustainable in providing a quality living standard for the majority of full time taxi plate holders”.

The Cllrs pointed to the over-supply of taxi plates and the influx of part-timers occupying city ranks.

Mayor, Ger Fahy, will write to the taxi regulator, Environment Minister, John Gormley, and Limerick Dail deputies for support.

  • Galway

A number of councilors called for a halt to city centre taxi and hackney licensing this week, on the basis that there is no space for them.

The concerns regarding the abundance of taxi and hackney drivers in the city were raised at Monday evening’s Galway City Council meeting following a presentation of the progress report on the Galway City Development Plan. It was during a question and answer period that a number of councillors deemed the progress report to be failing to deal with the lack of space for these drivers in the city and agreed that something needed to be done about the overcrowding of taxis and hackneys in both Eyre Square and throughout the city.

Following an outburst by Fine Gael Cllr Padraig Conneely regarding the situation, Fianna Fail Cllr Michael Crowe went so far as to call the current situation in the city “a joke” and “a catastrophe waiting to happen”, he said he believed that no more licences should be handed out in the city until something is done about space. Labour Cllr Billy Cameron would later agree with Cllr Crowe, describing his own unpleasant personal experience with city taxi drivers on the weekends, mentioning how he often has to avoid them because of the harassment received.

These snippets are with thanks to my friend Spook
I wonder will they have any effect?
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