Taxi drivers deny green lights on roof signs are racist

TAXI DRIVERS have rejected claims that green lights fitted to roof signs are racist, and said such lights were used throughout Europe.

One group representing taxi drivers, Tiománaí Taxi na hÉireann, said it was seeking an immediate meeting with Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar on the issue, and said its members wanted an apology from him for suggesting that they were racist.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland yesterday, Mr Varadkar said he had only heard about the practice in recent days.

“The green light does not form part of the official sign so it’s not permitted, and the green lights do have to be removed. I have seen stickers on taxis informing people that the taxi is Irish, so presumably they’re trying to inform people that the driver is Irish.”

Asked if that was acceptable, he said “not in my view, and this is a personal view, but I think it’s inherently racist and I think it’s inherently xenophobic”.

Alan Brennan of Tiománaí Taxi na hÉireann said his members were upset at Mr Varadkar’s comments and rejected any suggestion that they were xenophobic.

The National Transport Authority said it had not seen “a prevalence” of green taxi roof sign lights, but said any such lights “are contrary to rules relating to customising taxi roof signs and should, therefore, be removed”.

Asked what advice he would be giving to members who had installed the lights, Mr Brennan said the group would not like to see members being fined unnecessarily for having lights on the roof sign. However, there was nothing to stop them from putting the lights elsewhere on the vehicle.

Christy Humphreys of the National Private Hire and Taxi Association said the issue had been “blown out of all proportion”. The lights were being used by drivers to make their cars more visible. The lights on the roof sign could be difficult to see during the day, so the green light drew attention to the car.

“They can be bought by anybody so once they are available to anybody they are not racist.”

Noel Byrne Auto Electrical in Walkinstown began selling the lights to taxi drivers about 1½ years ago.

Mr Byrne said he had seen the lights abroad and thought they would be useful here. “I have sold them to all nationalities, Chinese, Asian, Polish, Czech.”

In a statement the National Transport Authority said it would not tolerate racism in any form. “The authority takes any incidents of discrimination extremely seriously and refers all such matters to the authorities with the power to investigate such complaints, ie the Garda or Equality Authority.”