Taxi drivers are likely to boycott the Ryder Cup if regulator Ger Deering does not introduce another fare increase within months, the National Taxi Drivers' Union (NTDU) has said.
Members of the three main representative unions - the NTDU, Siptu and the Taxi Drivers' Federation - voted on Wednesday night to target the golf tournament as part of their continuing dispute with Mr Deering.
They will also withhold a €500 annual fee due to be paid to the Dublin Airport Authority in September for operating at the airport. This action follows two one-day work stoppages in the last month in protest over the regulator's refusal to reconsider changes which come into force on September 25th.
A new national fare structure, signed into law earlier this month, will be in place from that date. Minimum charges will be set at €3.80, or €4.10 at premium times, replacing the system where fares were set by individual local authorities. The new structure also sees the abolition of luggage charges and a €1.50 hiring charge for pick-ups from Dublin airport. Unions claim the changes will badly affect drivers' incomes.
Union leaders will decide this weekend on the form the Ryder Cup boycott will take. But NTDU president Tommy Gorman said drivers would probably refuse to take fares to the tournament and would not respond to calls for pick-ups from the event in Straffan, Co Kildare, from September 22nd to 24th.
