Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Anti- Racism week 2010

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

How dare you attack the taxi industry which you know f**k all about.

If black drivers actually abide by the regulations, and charge the regulated fares as established by the god forsaken Taxi Regulator, they would not get as much stick.

The trouble is that a large minority fail to abide by the rules, and in recent weeks this has become more evident when the Regulator and Gardai have launched a crackdown on all taxi drivers, exposing an overwhelming violation by African drivers for not having safety equipment, for giving their taxi plates to unlicensed African drivers, and not using the meter on regular fares.

You try making a living driving a taxi in Galway, Cork, Limerick or Dublin with less customers available and higher costs like €250 for a PSV license (used to be €5), €6,500 for a taxi plate, €50 for safety equipment kit, €800 for a taxi meter, €300 for a radio or rent at €75 per week, 1/3 of earnings to a dispatch company if you work for one (nearly have to at this stage). Add the cost of a car to this (often has newish given possible incoming ban on cars older than 10 years). Plus working some days from 9am to 4am with only a few hours break in between, just to make ends meet.

All the above apart from the radio and dispatch are mandatory. Most African drivers buy an old 7 seat van, so they can buy a wheelchair license for €250 but means they're priority should be the disabled, they use it as a normal license. Many rogues don't have a safety kit, and some share the car and taxi plate with unlicensed drivers (usually family members without the PSV license) which should be displayed on the dash at all times.

F**king Mastercard Marxists at NUIG. Get out in the real world and deal with the "working class" you love talking about so much.

Anonymous said...

Why would Ógra allow this to be written and publishedon their blog?? Disgrace

Anonymous said...

i agree terrible article, dont know what your talking about

Anonymous said...

Call yourselves nationalists?

Your nothing better than traitors to the Irish nation.

You disgrace the spirit and memory of those brave souls who died for Ireland in 1916, and you are bring shame to them.

Anonymous said...

Great interview. I do think the top bit had a sweeping generality about it. perhaps someone from NUIG or Galway could clear up some of the above points. Shauna

Anonymous said...

what the hell is happening with sinn fein? all this shows is that you as a party are selling out your own people and favoring the blacks how dare you attack the taxi drivers for having tri colours on there cars are we now ment to not be proud of our culture,flag,our forefathers,race just because someone that has no write to be here in the first place finds it racist Ógra Shinn Féin you are nothing but a joke tell me this if you when to africa and got into a taxi do you think the africa taxi driver would take down his flag in case you where upset by it

Anonymous said...

I dont see exactly how there is definite link between displaying a tricolour on your car and being a racist, or indeed even necessarily being Irish.

I cannot think of a company name from memory that implies that Irish only are employed.

Please explain your logic and convince me of these things step by step? Cos they seem presumptious and silly.

I mean racists also wear trousers. Should we refuse to get taxi rides with people who wear trousers?

Tristan Ó Ceithearnaigh said...

I had to read the post again,just to make sure I wasn't hallucinating.
As an Irish person,I give my first allegiance to my country and countrymen and women my flag and to my native language and culture.Thats called Nationalism.I also support other people in their own endeavours in their own countries be they.. Indian,Nigerian,Aborigine,Welsh,etcbecause I also believe that all people have a right to make a living in their own native Sovereign countries free from colonial/foreign interference .But while I live in Ireland ,it will be the Irish whom I will support first.
Ogra Shinn Fein are a joke to suggest that I am being racist for supporting Irish people and business in Ireland.
No wonder with this mentality that Sinn Fein is now sitting down with the British to help them oversee their evil and immoral colonial occupation of Ireland.
Next you idiots will ban Irish and the Irish flag for not being inclusive enough or colourful enough for all the foreigners pouring into Ireland who by the way 99.999% are only interested in learning that bastard language English,thus further Anglicising Ireland for their own agenda.
Tristan Ó Ceithearnaigh.
(Is my name too Irish for you idiots?).

Anonymous said...

The taxi industry is under serious pressure at the minute, and no one would dispute that. The taxi regulator has inflicted serious hardship and pressure on countless taxi drivers. There are way too many licences being given out. And there are many who bend the regulations and essential make the lot of other taxi drivers difficult.

The problem emerges when the assumption is made that all those fiddling are black, and all white are honest. This is not only unfair, but also innaccurate. I have met black taxi drivers who are proud card carrying members of the Independent Workers Union Taxi Branch, and there were many white as well as black scabs driving on the day of the most recent strike.

Are black cab drivers disproportionatly represented among those who dont abide by the system? Possibly. Does that mean that all black taxi drivers, or even a majority of them are leeches of some desription? No, of course not. And I have yet to encounter a taxi driver with one of those larger taxis, any drivers of such tend I have met tend to be Irish. I dont use taxis everyday, but I would use them at least weekly. In any case, unless that practice negatively affects services for the disabled, I dont see any harm in exploiting a loophole in a manifestly unfair system.

As to the substantive point of the article, there are some generalisations, certainly. OSF arent afraid of our nationality, of our flag, as is apparent from other articles on the blog, indeed NUIG cumann are to be found elsewhere on the blog campaigning for proper respect to be shown to the flag on campus. But thats what this is about - respect for the flag. Its not some stupid fucking gimmick to be used selectively. If anything its a bit silly the way some of these cab drivers are using it. Indeed I would say many of the cabs sporting tricolours are actually driven by the cab drivers ye hate anyway!

Fair enough about supporting the irish and that, but these are people who have made their home in Ireland, are paying taxes in Ireland, and their money stayes in Ireland. Whats more their children will be Irish, may go to a Gaeilscoil, and play hurling for Loughrea for all we know. Its not like sending Irish jobs abroad.

I dont mind the tricolour being used in that way all that massively, personally I would be uncomfortable using it in such a flippant way as that, but I can at least understand it.
What I dont like is when people decide to deny someone custom on the basis of their skin colour. That disgusts me. And thats what we are talking about here. The assumption that black cab drivers are craven crooks, and the white irish cab drivers are the gallant doyen of the Irish Working class is just facile beyond words.

I consider myself to be a nationalist, and am proud of my country. But that doesnt mean i dont feel that people born in a different country arent entitled to work and make a home here.

And when all comes to all folks, you all have more common with the black taxi driver than with Irish gombeen men such Seanie Fitzpatrick and Sean Quinn, and their stake in building a republic here is as great as yours.

Agus Tristan, ráiméis den scoth, ní dhéanann pairtí ar bith níos mó oibre don teanga, ná d'ár cultúr ná Sinn Fein, Ní chiallaíonn sé sin nách bhfuil cearta ag eachtranaigh anseo.

Anonymous said...

you lot have lost a voter, if you don't care about the native Irish then what is the point of the party?

Oisin Ó D said...

While most of the above posts are from the racist idiots of the DRM this article is poorly worded and the tricolour on taxis is not so simple. I've been in taxi with african drivers who display the tricolour, their national flag. the point attempted here is not wrong but is very clumsily expressed and it should not have been posted without being looked over and deemed so.