Taxi drivers have suspended protest action in Dublin, pending the outcome of a meeting between Department of Transport officials and the National Transport Authority next week.
A six-day protest by taxi drivers had been scheduled to take place in Dublin next week over Uber’s fixed fares.
On Wednesday, taxi drivers took part in ‘go-slow’ protest action on routes around Dublin Airport.
That was the second demonstration by drivers, who are protesting against Uber’s new fixed pricing plan for the city.
However, in a statement this afternoon, Taxi Drivers Ireland confirmed they are suspending further escalation.
They said they have informed An Garda Síochána that all protest activity will be paused while engagement with Government takes place.
Protesting taxi drivers have been calling on the Minister for Transport and the National Transport Authority to intervene to stop Uber from imposing a fixed fare system on drivers who use the app.
In an earlier statement, Taxi Drivers Ireland said that “after four weeks of warnings, protests, and direct appeals, the Government has failed to take any meaningful action to address the crisis engulfing the regulated taxi industry”.
The “national shutdown protest” was originally schedule to take place from Monday 8 December to Saturday 13 December.
However, this protest action has now been suspended.
National spokesperson for Taxi Drivers Ireland Derek O’Keeffe said that the protest had the support of Taxi Drivers Ireland Cork Branch and Taxi Drivers Ireland Galway Branch.
“We are watching a regulated profession being dismantled in real time,” he said.
“This is what happens when working people are left with no voice,” he added. “We are not doing this lightly. We are doing it because we are being forced to.”
It follows recent calls by taxi drivers for regulations of the industry to be updated – which they claim do not keep pace with the rise of app-based dispatchers.
“We do not want protests,” Mr O’Keeffe said. “We want to work. But we will not quietly accept the destruction of our livelihoods.”
The Department of Transport previously said that while Minister Darragh O’Brien is not involved in the day-to-day operations of the taxi sector, he has written to the National Transport Authority to clarify the regulatory position on the Uber fixed price fare for taxi operators and public representatives.
Last month, the NTA said it sets a maximum fare that taxi drivers can charge passengers, but outside of that, it is not involved in the arrangements between taxi drivers and third parties such as booking platforms.
