A threat of disruption to taxi services at Dublin airport next Monday has been removed following talks yesterday between the parties involved.
Taxi unions have also decided not to organise further protests over a new national fares and regulatory regime due to come into effect on Monday.
They instead plan to pursue their concerns through dialogue with the Department of Transport and taxi regulator Ger Deering. The decision removes the threat of disruption to services during this weekend's Ryder Cup.
Traffic in Dublin city centre was severely disrupted last Monday week in the fourth protest by taxi drivers over the planned new fares structure since July.
Since then, however, the three unions involved have opened discussions with the Department of Transport about the need for an appeals mechanism for taxis unhappy with a regulator's decision. There is currently no appeals process in place. They have also opened talks with Mr Deering about an early review of the fares regime taking effect on Monday.
Changes being imposed by the regulator include the introduction of a single taxi fare to apply across the State.
Drivers in Dublin will benefit slightly from the new national fare, but will lose out through other changes such as Mr Deering's decision to remove the €1.50 hiring charge for picking up passengers at Dublin airport. That had caused the threat of disruption at the airport on Monday as taxi drivers were planning to withhold payment of a €500 annual fee for using the facility.
The drivers' union representatives met the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) yesterday and asked that the fee be deferred for a month to allow further talks to take place.
The DAA subsequently issued a statement saying it had agreed not to impose the levy for a two-week period from Monday "to allow further time for the issues concerned to be discussed with the taxi regulator".
Irish Taxi Drivers' Federation president John Ussher said while the deferral was for a shorter period than sought it was a "welcome development" which meant services would operate as normal on Monday.
Siptu and the National Taxi Drivers' Union were the other two unions represented at yesterday's meeting.
Explaining the background to the €500 levy, the airport authority said taxi drivers hiring there required an airport operating permit. At present the permit cost 70c per passenger pick-up at the airport and an application fee of €50. The authority said taxi unions had agreed to replace this with an annual fee of €633.
When the regulator had subsequently announced the removal of the €1.50 hiring charge currently applied by drivers, the unions had said this would result in a 20 per cent loss of earnings to their members. As a result of this, the DAA had made a 20 per cent reduction in the sum agreed with the unions, from €633 to €500.
