Sir, - It seems compassion for the taxi drivers' plight is pretty thin on the ground. Apart from fleeting remarks hinting at some semblance of pity, outright denigration is the order of the day.
My own experience of taxi drivers, chiefly in Waterford, sometimes in Dublin, is a wholly positive one. I find them decent, honest, good-humoured and hard-working. The ugly scenes in Dublin this week were regrettable but surely they were the manifestation of a deep despair. Can we not stretch ourselves to empathise more with those who have seen a large investment practically vanish overnight, an investment made perhaps on the strength of the family homestead? There is no doubt, and the taxi drivers agree, that the structures underpinning the business need amending. But why should many of this generation of taxi drivers be forced to bear so much of the brunt. There must be a less painful, more compassionate approach. Those of us who look forward to Christmas, reasonably secure, should count ourselves very, very fortunate. - Yours, etc.,
John O'Driscoll,Carrick-on-Suir, Co Tipperary.