The taxi lobby may have mustered all the political muscle at its disposal to resist deregulation of its industry, but the experience of tens of thousands of frustrated travellers over the Christmas and New Year period provides a most effective rejoinder. The situation on the streets of Dublin this festive season would have come from some of the more exotic regimes in Central and South America: visiting executives at the International Financial Services Centre being forced to hire a car to take them to the airport; potential customers being told on the phone - even in the early afternoon - that there was simply no prospect of securing a taxi; and the traditional lengthy queues of exasperated travellers, waiting patiently at taxi-ranks around the city in what might be called a triumph of hope over expectation. The current situation is nothing less than a public scandal in the sense that the common good has been undermined by powerful vested interests. Indeed, the most remarkable aspect of the affair has been the degree to which the political system has collapsed before the taxi lobby while paying only scant regard to the wider needs of the public - not to mention the chronic need to improve public transport in Dublin. The latest recommendations from both the Local Authority Taxi Committee and the Dublin Taxi Forum, established by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, are modest in the extreme and very protective of the taxi driver's interests.
Against this background, the Tanaiste, Ms Harney, who in a recent Sunday Business Post interview, made the case for deregulation, is to be commended for her willingness to confront the taxi lobby. But she has received very little support from her Government colleagues. Instead, her comments have been severely criticised this week by the Taoiseach's brother, Mr Noel Ahern, who warned that deregulation would throw many single-plate owners "on the scrapheap" overnight. He also accused the PD leader of being out of touch with recent developments which have seen 400 new plates issued and agreement for a further 830 over the next three to four years. No-one is making a case for putting people on the scrapheap. On the contrary, with such strong public demand for a reliable taxi service, it is clear that liberalisation would generate a great deal of new employment in the industry. As for the taxi-drivers who have invested heavily - up to £80,000 - for a taxi licence, it is surely not beyond the wit of the politicians to establish a compensation mechanism. One suggestion is that all current licence-holders could be given an additional licence, which they would be free to use or to sell, pending complete deregulation. Mr Ahern's contention that the issuing of some 1,200 additional licences over the next three to four years represents significant progress is ludicrous. Dublin city centre has changed out of recognition in the last five years and continues to develop as an international capital city. Indeed, the former Taoiseach, Dr Garret FitzGerald, has estimated that, at the present rate of progress (about 300 new licences per year) it will be 2010 before the supply of taxis on the streets meets the level of demand. Ms Harney has expressed the hope that this will be the last Christmas of taxi mayhem. The question now is whether her Government colleagues have the courage to provide a new kind of taxi-service that meets the needs of a modern, dynamic economy and its citizens.