Two-thousand new taxis in Dublin had not reduced the queues, a High Court judge remarked yesterday when he upheld Government proposals to deregulate the business.
In those circumstances, the "defeatist tone" of hardship statements filed on behalf of the taximen might not be justified, Mr Justice Carney said.
He rejected the taxi operators' claims that new regulations should have contained a compensation scheme. He said that the operators were mistaken if they believed there was an automatic right to compensation in all circumstances.
Mr Justice Carney awarded the taxi operators half their legal costs, but said that if they went on strike within a 21-day period he would review the costs order.
The increased demand for public service transport was a special circumstance entitling the Minister of State to change previous policy, the judge said.
It was not necessary to establish whether representations were made, or assurances given, to the taxi-drivers on foot of which they formed the belief that the previous policy would not be altered. Even if such assurances were given by high ranking members of the Government, these were such that they could only have been regarded as conditional.
Mr Justice Carney said that taxi operators must have been aware of the risk that legislative change might affect the value of a licence. While they had accepted the need for more taxis, they wanted deregulation to be so gradual that there would be taxi queues on Dublin streets for at least a decade to come.
Taxi-drivers' representatives have indicated that they may contest the High Court decision. Mr John Ussher, president of the Irish Taxi Drivers' Union, described the verdict as "a bit of a disaster". Deregulation had affected not just Dublin but the entire country, he said.
The Minister of State, Mr Molloy, said the Government was "very satisfied that the courts have vindicated the action that we took".