There's something of a public relations crisis afoot in the Irish taxi industry. Whatever tiny modicum of sympathy the general populace of Dublin may have had for their cause evaporated during last week's show of thuggery on O'Connell Street.
Most taxi drivers seem to know everything there is to know about everything - so how come they can't get their massive brains around the idea that threatening and blackmailing the public aren't ploys overly likely to be greeted with anything but fury? My sources tell me there is huge discord within the three main taxi unions on how best to deal with the issue. Last week, it appears they lost all control of a renegade core who decided to hold the city to ransom, sauntering around laughing as they ignored the plight of the commuters they'd stranded.
I personally witnessed a coterie of shaven-headed beer-bellied thugs the likes I haven't seen since the Love Ulster riots (maybe it was the same shower?) abuse and intimidate motorists who had the temerity to remonstrate with them. I'm no lipreader, so I can only assume the language being used was somewhat florid. The fact the mob were using their middle fingers to salute all and sundry also pointed to this not being an exchange of breakfast roll recipes or directions to the nearest tax office.
National Taxi Drivers Union supremo Tommie Gorman made a telling admission in an interview following this display of hooliganism. Dismissing claims the Garda should have waded in and arrested the protesters, he said, and I quote, "God knows what would have happened," had they done so. Was this a veiled threat or an admission he'd lost control? Either way, it hardly instils confidence in the leadership.
Not all taxi drivers are like this. Most I've spoken to - I use a lot of taxis - have no desire to strike but feel they will be targeted if they don't. They can't afford to not work for the day, but nor can they afford to replace their tyres or windscreens if they get slashed or smashed. So they choose the former. And the thugs win.
The truth is, the majority of taxi drivers are not tax-dodging xenophobic gangsters with poor personal hygiene that you'd baulk at letting out of prison, never mind allow to pick your drunk teenage daughter up from outside a pub. That is a fact. But then again, some are.
All they have to do is drum up ten grand, buy a second-hand Almera and a taxi plate, and suddenly they are self-employed businessmen who feel they have the right to terrorise long-suffering commuters on a whim.
These are the very ones the taxi union leaders need to flush out if their campaign is to have any hope of success.
The Emissions message to the taxi-drivers: Cop yourselves on. Quit the bully boy tactics, stop throwing your taxi plates out of the pram, brush up on your manners and move away from providing a shoddy service to one you and your customers can be proud of.
And you, the public, you can show your support for their current strategy with one simple action: Get on a bus. Rant over. If there are any fat slob ex-con taxi drivers out there who've taken offence, the above photo isn't me at all. In reality, I bear a striking resemblance to Bono.
PS: A word of solace for anyone planning to attend the Ryder Cup. I suspect the threat to boycott the event is just a smokescreen. Does anyone honestly believe taxi drivers will forgo their golden opportunity to shamelessly fleece anyone with a woollen golf jumper over the next month?