In Cork taxis?

On a recent journey in a Dublin taxi, the driver said he’d love to r*de the a*se of a young lady crossing the road. That, combined with the smell of sweat and cigarettes in the car, left me feeling sorry for any tourist he might pick up. Cead Mile Failte to Ireland. No sympathy for an industry that needs an urgent overhaul.

Like it or not lots of free advertising judging by the 30,000+ views the article has received!

Did you get a discount?

No but got home the most direct route

Very happy to have you here. … Ireland would indeed be a poor monochrome place without our foreign and international irish population…. most of the clowns who are xenophobic having never lived Abroad most likely

Any relation to Juan ?

Agree with you Albert, but with regard to South American and African immigrants in Spain, how can Spanish people complain when the country colonised all of Central and South America (bar Brazil) and parts of Northern Africa (still reaping the tourist benefits of the Canary Islands), maybe if they hadn’t been colonised and plundered, you wouldn’t have such an issue, from an Irish perspective, we welcome all, but colonised none,

@Kevin no idea who’s Juan, so the answer is no…

Juan Mata. Spanish and Chelsea footballer.

@Gaius you’re totally right, yes, but don’t ask some Spanish people to think so much, they just see how “panchitos” or “machupichus” (derogatory for South America people) are “stealing” their jobs. The truth is when things went well in Spain no native wanted those jobs anyway. And when things went bad in the 60s, Spaniards were the first to go to Germany, France, etc. to “steal” jobs there. At the end of the day we’re all people behaving similar under similar circumstances…

@Kevin ah! Ex-Valencia! No, no, no relation at all… and certainly wouldn’t mind: he’s a huge player!

Agreed Albert

A lot of Spaniards are headed to Mexico, Alberta.

MEXICO CITY — The most fashionable accessory in Mexico City this winter is … a Spaniard.

As the euro crisis shakes Spain to its core, thousands of young Spanish professionals are leaving their homeland in search of employment. The result is a mass exodus of young, educated Spaniards — a massive brain drain, the likes of which have not been seen since the end of the Spanish Civil War in 1939.

http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=b82b479d536073612333d26becb33435

Very hard to get a long term visa for South American countries, otherwise Id move there in a heartbeat. Open up a wee Irish themed beach bar. Call it O’Che’s.

In all fairness Albert, the issue here isn’t the presence/amount of foreign nationals in the country. It is the prevelence of these people in an industry where a high level of local knowledge is pretty essential. Please don’t make it out that we want all non-Irish out of the country.

@O’Brien sure, I didn’t mean you don’t treat non-Irish well enough, absolutely not.

Foreigners are as capable of learning how to navigate Dublin as a native is. Then there’s sat nav… Driving a taxi is not exactly rocket science. Anyway, I’d prefer to have to give directions to a foreigner and sit is silence for the rest of the journey rather than suffer the diatribes of whatever happens to be on the native drivers (small) mind.

I am stealing your idea for” Shutup Cabs.”

Seriously.

I’ve just registered it lol

Katie does make a lot of sense!

tad bit racist there Stephen

Odd, I’ve been in more memorably stinking cars with Irish drivers with serious BO than I have non-Irish.
They also seemed to be the very same drivers who had real hangups about foreign nationals driving a taxi.

How do non EU citizens get visas to drive taxi cabs? Ive always wanted to know that one.

A foreigner could be Caucasian, or any other colour. The slogan refers to the county of origin of their drivers. I can only assume that this includes non white Dubs.

I am sick of people talking about racism this and racism that. Race and Nationality are two very different things.

If you wanted you could say that this slogan is anti-culchie! But racist it is most definitely not.

I totally agree with stephen and if thats a tad bit racist I can live with that.

They are self-employed entrepreneurs. I don’t think they need a working visa. Could be wrong, but that is what I’d heard.

not at all racist. just supporting Ireland, and not money transfers through western union

The problem is not ‘non Irish drivers’, it’s that we don’t have an effective regulator so no standards. There are plenty of very good non national taxis and plenty of useless Irish drivers, but without a requirement for training and high standard cars, we’ll never have a quality service.

When someone says they “have no interest in getting in a taxi driven by a non irish driver” I don’t care how you want to dress it, it’s racist!

I ‘ve been in taxi’s by foreign-nationalists and they are the nicest people. At least I don’t have to listen to someone moan about the Government or the state of the country.

They are mostly failed asylum seekers who got leave to remain here under the IBC 05 scheme.

Dont believe me?

Ask them.

Bang on Shaun the Sheep. Your perfectly right. To many times is the racist card used. If supporting irish is considered raciest so is the made in Ireland label on our produce in supermarkets

It is a racist policy. That’s pretty bloody obvious.

Rationalise it how you will, cars aren’t as good, drivers get lost etc. If that makes you feel better about yourself then fair play- but you’re still in the wrong.

Christ- given the level of emigration at the minute you think we’d be understanding of people trying to earn a livelihood.

True to form Stephen C
Complete and utter dribble being regurgitated.
Troll

Most of the taxis you are objecting to are owned by Irish taxi drivers who simply get the cheapest labour to drive them. Wake up , open your eyes and ears & you might actually have something useful to contribute.

Where is the money lebowski

Hush with the racist accusations, its people like you that boil my sh*te crying “racism” all the time!

Perhaps your racism interferes with your vision?

Wasn’t there a taxi company with only women drivers not that long ago, and the national dairy council asking us to ensure our milk is only from moo cows in the ROI, and the GI guaranteed Irish scheme, and any number of other schemes. Nothing racist about it at all. Local company advertising that they employ local staff, insinuating that maybe they have local knowledge too.

@Stephen. People like you really need to stop with this witch hunt against people who perhaps prefer to socialise or do business with people of their own race. I see plenty of Africans shopping in the local African shops, getting their nails etc done in the local African run nail bar in Inchicore. My neighbours, Polish, had alot of work done on their house lsst Summer… I didnt hear many Irish accents ! They are supporting their own… why cant we? Well actually we can but run the risk of being branded a racist… clichéd, boring and inaccurate.

Tom — Having looked at a few of your comments, I find them pretty xenophobic to say the least.

Then this: “if thats a tad bit racist I can live with that”

I’d say you can alright!

Support the working man/woman, whatever colour, creed, nationality….

@petr my comment about being a tad bit racist was meant in a dismissive so-be-it manner. So Petr would you accuse foreign nationals who intentionally support businesses run by their own nationalities as racist against Irish businesses? Because come on lets not pretend that they dont do that! ;)

I agree stephen, apart from the cars being lower standard.. There usually in nicer cars then most irish taxi drivers!! I wont hail a taxi anymore, i ring my local, or else use the hailo app…which id recommend to anyone!!

Cobblers. Its only since deregulation that we actually have a taxi service

@ Kevin “How do non EU citizens get visas to drive taxi cabs? Ive always wanted to know that one.”

you’re not the only one, can we get an answer to that? and its not just ‘taxi’ driving, other non-required skill sets for the visa rule such as nanny workers etc.
something ain’t right about it. try going to there countries and working as a ‘taxi’ driver, you wouldn’t get the visa for a start as they don’t need you.
fed up of this banana state, Alan Shatter is certainly not enforcing that, he’s gone the opposite direction, get him out!

The Guaranteed Irish argument again, good stuff!

i mean, it doesn’t make sense, but it almost sounds like it does…

Excellent point

Not the same thing at all. Guaranteed Irish means that it was produced in this country, so the money stays in this economy. It doesn’t guarantee an all white or Irish workforce in the production facility. Whether white or black, or Kerry or Dub, the vast majority of a taxi drivers money stays in the local economy, so it’s not the same thing.

Excellent point @ gerry’s comment

Dub cabs would be better off distinguishing themselves by being able to advertise that they have 0% convicted criminals or sex offenders driving their cabs.

That would cause me to seek them out for my business. Can they make that claim I wonder?

Guaranteed Irish means exactly that .. to the best of the sellers knowledge anyway! … this firm advertises exactly wot you get, cant see what is confusing about it? The consumer is fully informed and therefore free to make their choice. I value that freedom and should not feel pressured to change my choices in life because another individual dosent like them.

To the people agreeing with Gerry- you understand that the two things are completely different, right?

In the end of the day, its the companies way of offering something unique and if you wsnt to spend your money getting a local driver then its up to the paying customer, its choice. it doesnt bother me where my cab driver is from so ill continue to use hailo. Also bare in mind that plenty of foreign taxi drivers have their niche over the competition from people from their own community or church etc who just use them.

Guaranteed Irish is more about cutting down on carbon footprints and keeping money in the economy.

These shops still employ non-nationals at the tills and your more than happy to use that service! For me the equivalent here is only choosing to use cars made in Ireland

what about guaranteed irish burgers

Guaranteed Irish just means it was produced in Ireland, it doesn’t mean it was produced by Irish people of proven Irish heritage. I mean, what you think they do? Conduct regular DNA testing and screening to confirm the pedigree? How many generations would they go back?

The slower readers may agree with you Gerry Fay, but buying an Irish product is not the same as paying for a service, especially in this case. It’s still a taxi driver in Ireland, the money isn’t going into someone else’s economy. If they decide to send some of the their earnings home at the end of the month, that’s their own business but it’s not going to have enough of an impact on our economy or theirs.

Oh and which “right” exactly are you referring to?

A rather patronising and degrading comment there “dearg doom”?? … despite the cesspit we currently find ourselves in in this country, civil liberties have not evaporated including the right to free speech, choice etc. All monies spent by consumers on any product, service, commodity or whatever, is done so by their choice and not yours or anyone elses. Its irrelevant where the money may end up, but that process begins with consumer choice. Companies can and should advertise as they see fit, to the benefit of their business and within the boundaries of the law. Bit of a hypocritical comment about it being ‘their own business’ … how consumers spend their money is theirs.

…….eh, we have been doing this for the last two centuries in an awful lot of countries!!!!! it’s just that nobody has ever done it to us here and we don’t like it so lets throw every foreigner out be they black, white, green or yellow!!!!!! grow up people!!!!!!!!

your very welcome plenty of irish in good old USA

omg!!!! home of Motown & techno!!!!!! your standing is aok!!!!!!

In the worldview of the ‘take care of our bleedin’ own furst’ you’re cool because you’re white and speak with an American accent which is acceptable, even kind of cool. If you were Nigerian, not so much.

@petr… do you ever stop playing the martyr? ?

Does the truth sting?

@petr… yes it stings, it hurts… oh by the way I need the decking in my garden replaced.. do you know if any of your buddies would be interested in the job? I would ask my Irish neighbour but he is a lazy waster and deals in cash only.

When i was in oz many a time I would spot various posters stickers on cars saying something like that their island was full and to feck off home to our own countries etc

They do. Employers in Australia can only employ non citizens once they have proved that they could not find a citizen to fill the position.

Kevin — That’s only true if you’re looking to be sponsored. I worked about 12 different jobs in Australia. None of them had to prove to anyone they looked for an Australian national first.

Eh…. Ha ha ha ha your funny.

Kevin is spot on here again, Brazil is the same, in fact many many countries have the same rule for Skill sets far far above taxi driving. They protect their imports, yet when they come here and can’t get their little job nannying or taxi driving accuse us of racism??? piss off home, its not that we don’t want you, its because we don’t need your skills at this moment in time. That is the rule, but of course someone ain’t doing their job. http://www.workpermit.com/ireland/ineligible_job_categories.htm

We worked everywhere we went and built most of there cities. I’m still waiting to see an African national on a building site. Just one!

james, that’s because he (or she) drove you there in a cab;)

I’m waiting to see anyone on a building site.

james, with that photo of yours, with you and your degree, I’d think in their photo they would be holding a research doctorate degree an would be your boss!!!! that’s why you don’t see them on building sites because they actually believe in getting an education!!!!! you would really want to get over your issues, its what nakng this great nation shite!!!!

Pat I’d actually love to see a statistic on that. Not to prove you wrong but I find it very very hard to believe that they’re all coming here with doctorates and taking all the best jobs. Ill eat my words if you can prove otherwise but at the moment ill call bull on your statement.

Yea and I got an education just for the pic….. Think you should have stuck at it yourself.

Yeah, appeal to the lowest common denominator.

Fully agree Damien. For non-nationals trying to integrate themselves and their families into Ireland, this is offensive. In my experience, the above-mentioned criticisms (unfamiliarity with route, grotty cars, etc) could equally levelled at some ‘local’ taxi drivers.

Except culchies.

Can somebody please tell me what benefits has Ireland gained from an influx of non nationals??? The only section of our society to benefit were, and to a lesser extent still are, businesses who employed these people often paying them poorly and expecting them to work long hours. I am sorry but the majority of irish people have not benefitted nor been enriched because their neighbours are nigerian or polish.

Tom you’re a complete bigot. Your comment has made me feel sick. I work with French people, Nigerians, Spanish, Italian, German, Polish, Indian. I’ve learned more from my colleagues in 2 years than 14 in Ireland’s education system. These different nationalities enrich our culture and on a separate note, work a damn sight harder than some of the Irish people I work with. (Germans and Polish in particular). Writing this comment has made me realise how lucky I am to work in such a diverse environment and thanks Tom for making me realise it.

@Tom: not sure if you ever tried coffee or pizza in the 90′s in Ireland… nothing against Nescafe or crappy industrial pizza, but you got to thank non-nationals for the progress made in those areas.

You would hope one of the benefits was to broaden the horizons of a nation that up till now has remained very homogenous, but I still find The Irish very insular on the whole. I hope this will have changed before my son reaches adulthood.

Anyone picking a service based on the colour of someone’s skin or nationality is a bigot – racist or not.

Thank you Marina. The comments you refer to also sickened me and make me ashamed to be Irish. Thankfully alas, most Irish are open, and get on great with our wonderful immigrant population. In the last 3 hours I’ve been served a coffee by a friendly Latvian, had my hair cut by a chatty French Algerian, chatted in Spanish to a Spanish neighbor and am now with a wonderful Polish woman. This is the multicultural Ireland I love

What you got ,Tom, is a large group of people with skills, education and ability to work that cost the Irish state nothing. Then you have all the work permit fees, PAYE and PRSI that we paid into the Irish state as well. You also have the punative GNIB card fees (aka Immigrant Tax €300 a year) for Non-EU nationals (please quit callling us non nationals, we come from somewhere) that generate millions. Many of which never claim their pensions or social welfare either by choice or by force as the Irish state does everything it can to prevent long time migrant workers from getting permanent status in Ireland like citizenship or residency (Ireland denies 47% of all applications the highest in the “first world”)
You also get a group of people that have been paying for the economic crisis before it even happened and are being made the scapegoats for it.
I’d say to any taxi driver, if you think screwing us foreignors is going to make things better for yourself then you are only screwing yourself.
Your problem is the regulator just the same as your fellow non-Irish taxi driver. Stand with them to fight the real enemy. I’d say the same for any working person. Us foreignors didn’t crash the economy…the culprits were all Irish.

(damn the offensive language filters here…)

Nope Maguire, most of our high tech industry is staffed by “foreign nationals”. We didn’t pay to educate these people, and they bring in a lot of money to our economy. Real money from real customers. There are plenty of other examples of benefits that we’ve received from “foreigners” who’ve decided to make their home and seek their fortune on this island, that’s just one that is blatantly obvious.

Now, what benefits have you provided to the country today?

@Baran… nice image you paint involving a chainsaw…. shows you for what you really are. Oh dont worry I pay plenty of tax… I am a highly educated professional. Just letting you know!

@Marina… your comment moved me. Funny though my comment has as many green thumbs as red.

Dear me, someone took an offense. It’s nice that the moderatos here are more keen to fight wishes of non-standard fornication than racism.

And it really saddens me that there are that many anonymous racists out there who agree with you Tom.

I hesitated in even beginning this, I don’t like the tone of some of these comments and wanted to avoid being ‘preachy’ to anyone.

I am a teacher, working in a post-primary school on the northside. A very nice area, with a mix of working class, middle class, ‘native’ Irish and many foreign-origin families and children. Most of these children are in fact Irish, so let’s start with dropping the non-sensical ‘non-national’. That term is wholly incorrect – everyone has a nationality of origin, regardless of where they came from or where they are living at any present time.

What gets me is our complete ignorance of our own highly-esteemed nationhood and identity. We proudly claimed in 1916 that we would be “cherishing all the children of the nation equally, and oblivious of the differences carefully fostered by an alien Government, which have divided a minority from the majority in the past.”

Oblivious of the differences – carefully fostered – by an alien Government.

Many people don’t realise the depth of vision inherent in the writing of this document. Differences are always being fostered, by those who seek to benefit from division, politically and economically. Unity and parity of esteem for all is the hallmark of an advanced society, worthy of its individuality.

Nowadays, the truth is we are masters of our own destiny, socially, culturally & politically, even if not economically.
Our new minority are people who act like us, think like us, moved like we have, sought work abroad like we have, stayed amongst their own mostly while abroad, like we have.
Either we play to high standards, and exalt our selves, underlining yet again our unique nature and obvious right to be a recognisable, distinct society
or
We take the low road, measure every opportunity as a conspiracy against us, point fingers, accuse whole sections of society of being somehow inherently bad, untrustworthy and not welcome. Then have the cowardly gall to claim that it’s not racism, but a ‘fact’ or a ‘reality’. Once you bring race into it, you are a racist. The choice is ours now.

Can’t blame Britain, can’t blame Germany, the potato blight or the overbearing control of the Catholic Church.

On a personal, simple note, I’m ashamed of this garbage. And garbage is a compliment for whatever individual thought up this poisonous little slogan.
Clearly, this company has an agenda.

I had a bad experience with a taxi driver once. If I make statements to the effect that we need more ‘Irish’ drivers, I would be inviting criticism as a racist, xenophobic or intolerant commentator. Which would be correct.

This slogan is racist. This thinking is intolerant. These are the facts. Let’s all just be adults about this and call it for what it is.

Goodnight.

So what you’re saying Is you let these people work and teach you? Take the finger out and give them a hand will ya!

“Censored” as someone who sees a lot of the high tech workers regularly, I call your comment as absolute & utter Bulls**t.

Well said Liam. Excellent piece.

Liam, that is perfectly put.

Government – deregulation – no money to be made – etc.

dubs know Dublin!………thank god that’s all they know!!!!!

richie, is not!!! it is becoming law, u get into a cab now, no more questions about “what way do you want go?”drivers have to now by law, take u the cheapest way home!!!………u c where I’m going? all of this was well in place before people actually started giving out about cabs!!!!!!

Non sequitur. Specialty shops (Polish, Italian, Oriental etc.) serve a different clientele and offer a different service range of products. Taxi company provides a service to anyone who needs reasonably fast transportation.

As a side note, the taxi companies better try to improve the services they sell to the drivers, or Hailo will throw them away from the market. To this particular one I’d say good riddance, though.

A taxi?

How wonderful and righteous!!

Spot on, Kerron.

Paul McGrath and Phil Lynott were both born in the UK

Well said Kerron.

Have a lie down and sniff some smelling salts…. you are in shock my dear.

well said TOM

Tom — You are a moral disgrace.

Hi Jonny,

Thanks for your comment.

Firstly, I would like to say that at no point did I imply a ‘code of silence’, as you put it.
Saying that a call (or calls) went unanswered is very different from saying that a person or organisation had no comment to make.

The reason I included this was to let readers know that I had, in fact, attempted to get the views of a representative body before publishing the piece.

Regarding your subsequent points about the NTDU and the SIPTU branch of taxi drivers, you are correct in that they appear to no longer exist.

I can assure you that when I dialled what must have been different contact numbers in my attempts to contact these organisations, I received a dial tone.

The article has now been updated to reflect this.

Thanks once again for your comment.

Kind Regards,

Paul

I replied to your response Mr Hyland ealier this afternoon (thurs) but it seems to have hit a nerve as it has now been taken down !!!
That speaks volumes

Sorry Stephen , I gave you a red thumb instead of a green one.

How is that insinuated? They do not mention race, just that drivers are local. Local does not equal ‘white’

I don’t think that’s the message Ian to be fair. I grew up in Dublin and had black neighbours who were as much a dub as I was.

If you went to London and got into a cab at least the driver underwent training and had to pass the “knowledge” before being allowed to offer taxi services.

I for one would not be too impressed if I found he knew as little about the city as I did.

We are always told it is important to buy Irish support local jobs etc. for me this includes supporting Irish born or naturalised before the newest influx of immigrants. We have a hard enough time of it supporting each other. This was part of community living when I was growing up. Now we seem intent on forcing us to accept services from foreign nationals when we have plenty of our own who are willing and ready to provide us with (often better)the service we want.
If there was a demand for taxi drivers who are non national only there would be one set up and likely with the backing of public funds (subsidy). I remember a female only taxi service a few years ago no one batted an eyelid.

I make no apologies for preferring services and products provided by Irish. 100%
Not like tesco burgers.

Paul McGrath Phil lynott two of the greatest dubs that even lived! I get into a taxi driven by either.
The point is you expect a taxi driver to know where he is going and that the car is to a decent standard if so I couldn’t care less where or what the driver is as long as he gets me there safe

I think you must be the racist one if you’re suggesting that there is no such thing as a nonwhite Irish national.

I think it’s pretty safe to assume that a taxi company that advertises itself as “phone a dub, get a dub” is not a multicultural employer. It is simply racist, they tried something similar few months ago with the green lights on the taxis.

Well then I’d suggest that a nonwhite Dublin taxi try to get a job and when he’s refused he should sue for a handy few grand. In my opinion most taxis don’t care what colour you are. They just hate their lively hood has been flooded by non nationals but then again there’s always a few that would in all walks of life.

Hear hear.