Dublin airport taxi-drivers to vote on establishing new organisation

Taxi-drivers who work at Dublin airport are to vote this week on forming a new organisation to represent them in negotiations with the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA).

A group of disgruntled drivers, unhappy with the service being offered to them by the National Taxi Drivers' Union, the Irish Taxi Drivers' Federation and Siptu's taxi-driver branch, are hoping to form a new organisation to represent drivers who rely on the airport for most of their work.

An interim committee of five men and two women has already been formed and taxi-drivers who hold permits to work at the airport have been invited to vote on whether the new organisation should be established.

Some 2,000 taxi-drivers currently hold permits for the airport, down from 4,000 last year following the introduction of a fixed charge of €400 a year, €220 for six months and €110 for three month by the DAA, and the abolition of luggage and pick-up charges by the taxi regulator.

In the past, drivers paid 70 cent every time they arrived at the "Kesh", a holding area where taxis wait for passengers. The organisation, if formed, is likely to be called the Dublin Airport Taxi Association (Data).

Colm O'Brien, a member of the interim committee, said permit- holders can vote between 9am and 8pm on Thursday at the cafe in the "Kesh".

"We are hoping that 500 to 600 drivers will vote, and if 80- 90 per cent of them vote yes to the new organisation, we will set it up," he said. Issues to be tackled will include the improvement of facilities at the "Kesh", which has chemical toilets and a cafe with limited opening hours.