Sir, - I take great exception to the comments about the hygiene of Dublin taxi-drivers by Mr Frank Magee of Dublin Tourism (The Irish Times, January 11th).
Mr Magee's comments are without any grounds and are an insult to all Dublin's taxi drivers. I am sure there are some who do smell of some form of body odour, particularly at the end of a 12-hour shift. Is he suggesting that we install showers in our cars?
As for the cleanliness of the cars, I can assure him that we all clean our cars every day (usually while queuing in the taxi holding area at Dublin Airport, where we can do it safely) and I can also assure him that the Carriage Office very regularly checks the cars' and drivers' cleanliness.
If Mr Magee really wants to ensure tourists have a good time in Dublin's hotels, he should probably address the insulting and intimidating practice of Nazi-style interrogation at the entrances to their night-clubs. More tourists (never mind the rest of us) complain about being refused entrance to night-clubs for very flimsy reasons than about any other annoyance.
Mr Magee should be very aware that in many cases the taxi driver may be the first person that a tourist gets the chance to talk to, and that we act as ambassadors for our county and country, a job I feel we do very well. - Yours, etc., John Fitzpatrick
Killala Road, Dublin 7.