Dublin taxi drivers take 1,000 children on annual trip

The annual Dublin taxi drivers' outing for handicapped children serves two very useful purposes. First, it gives children a good day out, raising money for charity in the process. And second, it reminds newspapers to find out if there are plans to put extra taxis on the streets this Christmas.

December is still a long way off, but yesterday the taxi situation claimed its first victim of the season when no less a person than the President, Mrs Robinson, was forced to walk to one of her public engagements.

Ironically, it wasn't the shortage of taxis that was to blame. There were so many of them in Parnell Square for the children's day out that Mrs Robinson had to abandon her State car and walk the rest of the way. It was a distance of less than a hundred yards, but for someone who rarely has to walk anywhere without a red carpet underfoot, it was enough.

When Mrs Robinson reached her destination she was faced with another problem, a Dublin Corporation maintenance crane had broken down in front of the Hugh Lane Gallery where she was to have addressed the crowd.

So, perhaps for the first time in her presidential term, Mrs Robinson was pushed to the side of the stage, as it were. But such indignities were brushed away by her welcome, when she was hailed as "our lovely, beautiful president" by Mr Johnny Walker, head of the organising committee, who added: "She's looking gorgeous today," in case anyone thought he was lacking enthusiasm.

President Robinson jokingly chided her hosts for obstructing her path, considering the business she'd given to "all the taxi drivers who came up to the Park over the years". She said the outing was for her "a very happy event at a time of mixed emotions" and noted it had grown visibly since she last attended it in 1992.

Some 500 taxi drivers decked their cars out in ribbons and balloons for the day and drove about 1,000 children from homes and schools around Dublin to an afternoon's party in Leopardstown. With sponsorship and the contributions from the taxi drivers, the event was expected to raise up to £10,000 for special schools in the city.

Earlier yesterday, President Robinson unveiled a plaque at Trinity College in honour of Prof Ernest Walton. Prof Walton is the only Irish person to have been awarded the Nobel Prize for Science. It was for his 1931 achievement in splitting the atom.