£5-a-trip taxi bonus fails to satisfy drivers

Hundreds of Dublin taxi-drivers are threatening to stay at home tonight despite the granting of a last-minute £5-per-journey millennium bonus.

The National Taxi Drivers' Union president, Mr Vincent Kearns, said: "I still can't see more than 3540 per cent of our members turning up. Many have already made prior arrangements because of the failure to move on this earlier. Others still won't feel it's worth their while working."

The union represents 2,800 members.

The once-off extra payment, recommended at an emergency meeting yesterday of the joint taxi-hackney committee of the four Dublin local authorities, will apply between noon today and noon tomorrow.

Mr Kearns said the bonus should have extended into Sunday morning. "New Year's Day could be even bigger than New Year's Eve, with the pubs reopening and a lot more people coming into town. For an 11th-hour agreement it's probably the best we can expect but we are not jumping for joy."

He said Dublin taxi-drivers were the lowest paid of all European capital cities. In Belfast, drivers will be charging double the meter fare plus £25.

The increase was introduced after an intervention by the Millennium Committee chairman, Mr Seamus Brennan TD, who expressed concern at the possibility of a large-scale taxi boycott of the capital. The local authority taxi committee convened yesterday evening, and its recommendation was accepted last night by the Minister of State at the Department of Environment and Local Government, Mr Robert Molloy.

Cllr Stanley Laing, chairman of the taxi committee, said the £5 charge on each metered fare was the only additional one which should be paid by members of the public. "Any attempt to impose a millennium charge in excess of £5 is illegal and should be reported to the Garda Carriage Office with details of the taxi-plate number."

He noted the corporation's pilot taxi-sharing scheme will not operate overnight.