Sir, - In the week after the formation of the National Disability Authority, and on the day that the Minister, Mrs O'Rourke, visited the Irish Wheelchair Association, I found myself trying in vain to book a wheelchair-friendly taxi to take my mother from St Vincent's Hospital to Dublin Airport.
On the night before our journey I phoned 10 taxi companies, using the Golden Pages and starting with companies with the largest ads. Some said they did not have wheelchair-friendly taxis, and the others said they could not take a booking, but that I should phone again in the morning and see if a taxi was available. Next morning I repeated the process and found that some of the companies which had said the previous night they had wheelchair-friendly taxis now claimed that they did not have any. Some of these gave me phone numbers of companies which they claimed offered this service; these companies subsequently denied it. One company said they would take details but that I should phone back to confirm about an hour before the required time. When I phoned later they informed me that they did not have any such taxis available. We had to bring my mother to the airport in the family car, causing unnecessary pain and distress.
When we got to England we had no difficulty whatsoever in getting wheelchair-friendly taxis both at ranks and by booking. In May I brought a group of students to Belfast, with two wheelchair-bound children among them. When we arrived in Belfast we found no difficulty in getting a wheelchair-friendly taxi at the railway station and in booking one later. The taxi-men treated the students with great kindness and friendliness.
How many taxi licences have been given on the basis of providing a service to wheelchairs? How often have we heard whinging from the taxi-men? How often have they disrupted the city to make their point? I for one know what kind of a service they provide. In my opinion they offer no service and are motivated only by greed. Can the powers that be allow this situation to continue? - Yours, etc., Christopher Conville,
Richmond Court,
Dartry,
Dublin 6.