The regulator should be able to provide figures on the number of taxis running along with the amount of complaints recevied, average ages of new / existing taxis etc.
When ordering from home wenow ask for a clean safe taxi driven by an Irish driver and the taxi company never have a problem with the request. My daughter and her friends have had "problems" too with drivers over the past year making inappropriate offers and conversation. They now arrange lifts instead... no fun for the dads on Saturday night/Sunday morning!
That's just racist and the taxi company shouldn't tolerate it.
Have your daughter and her friends complained to the Garda and the Taxi Regulator about these inappropriate offers and conversations?
Indeed, it is racist. What you need is a taxi driver who knows their way around Dublin, regardless of where they were born.Nothing racist about it. Totally realistic. Why is the racist card always dealt for any complaint about non-Irish residents? The majority of immigrants in recent years have enriched this country, economically and culturally, and made Ireland a better place for us to rear our children, but, like the Irish there are chancers amongst them.
indeed, it is racist. What you need is a taxi driver who knows their way around dublin, regardless of where they were born.
That's just racist and the taxi company shouldn't tolerate it.
On simple reading to the oversensitive pinko I'd agree, but why then isn't it sexist that female passengers can insist on a female driver?
I would assume a female driver would be requested from a female passenger from a safety perspective.
I take your other points - speaking for myself, I view the OPs comment as racially discriminating rather than racist in the stronger, xenophobic sense.
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I still don't see a difference with the female driver. Isn't that sexism? Just how many incidents are there of violence, agression, or inappropriate behaviour from male taxi drivers to female passengers? Are there enough to rationally justify selecting a specific gender of the driver?
By that same token, I've had conversations with taxi drivers where they have admitted that they won't actually stop for a single female fare at night because they fear being accused of sexual assault.
I'd wager we'd say that the former is ok but the latter is not ok.
You're missing the point Enoch. You may well have a requirement for your taxi driver to have a certain level of English and a certain level of Dublin knowledge. However, if you have a requirement based around where your driver was born, this is indeed racist.I'll be honest and say when I'm in a shop or service environment I tend to look for an Irish national mainly from the experience of trying to explain or resolve my query with someone where their conversational English isn't strong. It's nothing to do with a prejudice against that person, their country or skin colour or creed, it's just from experience it's more expedient to have the query dealt with by someone fluent in English (which would tend to imply again from experience an Irish national).
If we're all perfect and have never ever felt uneasy or frustrated with service or in the company of a "foreigner" or groups of them, then great you're the perfect Liberal and I commend you. If you've never rolled your eyes or passed comment at the lack of "Irish" people working in the service sector or even the "Polish" Isle at the Spar or the Lithuanian supermarkets, then again I commend your perfect liberal ideology.
If you have, it doesn't mean you're racist, it doesn't mean we can start tracing your family tree back to the Third Reich, it just means you're human.
Having a preference for Irish taxi drivers or service staff doesn't mean that in my spare time I'm knocking up crosses to start burning on lawns. It doesn't have any reflection on any aspect of character other than most human of all human traits: irrational. It’s not dangerous, it’s not a curse on society, it’s not jingoistic, it’s not going to affect or harm another single living person on this planet.
Yours.
Enoch Powell
The taxi driver has chosen to go into a particular service and is then refusing to supply that service to a huge part of his customer base.
Your point about females isn't really fair. There are lots of situations where females have been attacked by males. Therefore, some females don't feel comfortable in any situation where they are alone with an unknown man. That's not discrimination.
You're missing the point Enoch. You may well have a requirement for your taxi driver to have a certain level of English and a certain level of Dublin knowledge. However, if you have a requirement based around where your driver was born, this is indeed racist.
Well, what I'm saying is that if you choose to become a taxi driver it's a bit rich to then say you won't pick up female passangers because you're nervous of them. That's a bit like someone choosing to become a nurse but then saying they won't deal with anyone who's bleeding because they can't stand the sight of blood.
How many customers have experience of ALL the non-Irish national drivers in Dublin? Zero.I completely disagree. If based upon personal experience the non-national drivers either don't have good enough english or don't know their way around the city centre/my location and in opposition to that Irish drivers tend to have a greater familiarity, that's nothing to do with any opinions on superiority of the Irish race to others or fear or hatred.
How many customers have experience of ALL the non-Irish national drivers in Dublin? Zero.
To make assumptions about the abilities of ALL drivers of given nationalities based on the experiences with SOME drivers is racist.
I've sometimes had difficulty understanding Irish drivers with strong Dub or strong country accents. Does that mean that ALL Irish drivers are bad communicators?