A chara, - Ken Johnstone of SIPTU's Taxi Branch (January 6th) describes as "paltry" the payment by the State of €600,000 to 49 taxi drivers affected by the deregulation of the taxi industry in 2000.
He points out that the High Court held that the moratorium on entry to the market before 2000 was unconstitutional and that those drivers who lost out as a result deserve "proper compensation".
If my memory serves me right, it was Mr Johnstone's colleagues in the taxi industry who strenuously opposed any effort to address the moratorium and thus supported the unconstitutional position. Or when they decided to block the Dublin Airport roundabout and Kildare Street at the time, were they celebrating the High Court's findings?
Where one has been denied constitutional rights, one normally seeks compensation from those responsible for the denial. As the taxi unions supported this regime and it was existing taxi drivers who demanded the payment of excessive sums of licences, surely they will now provide compensation for their members who lost out.
Mr Johnstone points out that some drivers had to pay over €100,000 for licences prior to 2000. I would be very grateful if SIPTU published a list of those who sold licences for over €100,000 during that period. How many are SIPTU members? Has SIPTU asked them to contribute to the hardship fund for their colleagues who lost out?
The State has now paid out an average of over €12,000 each to taxi drivers whose unions prevented competition and denied a proper service to the travelling public for years. While I have sympathy for those who have lost money, why should my taxes be used as compensation rather than the exorbitant profits made on licences by some of Mr Johnston's colleagues in the taxi industry? - Is mise,
MALCOLM BYRNE, Ramsfort Avenue, Gorey, Co Wexford.