‘Inherently racist’

Smidge

Cianos wrote: »

By small sample I mean that you're forming an opinion about people of a particular race, based on a small number of people of that race.

No, I am a basing it on taxi drivers, not race.
As I said I have taken hundreds of taxi's over the years and never had any of this happen other than these three incidents.
Statistically speaking the odds are seriously against the 3 drivers I mentioned, I mean a very modest estimation over the last 20 years and 3 non-national drivers carry on like this???
BTW if I was racist, I would never have gotten into the taxi in the first place having seen who was driving.

mikemac1

What has the journal.ie started with their spin

Why is this thread full of posts about green lights meaning Irish?

The lights are to help you flag down drivers during the day as you can't see if the yellow sign is lit and you can't always see if the taxi has no passenger.


Instead the journal.ie sees green and reckons it's a sign to show Irishness.
And does an Evening Herald with their anonymous sources
Rag

K-9

Comment about Irish logos on goods being the same thing or something.

We can discriminate on Irish cows but not people. Disgraceful Joe.

micropig

mikemac1 wrote: »

What has the journal.ie started with their spin

Why is this thread full of posts about green lights meaning Irish?

It's more fun it seems

mikemac1 wrote: »

The lights are to help you flag down drivers during the day as you can't see if the yellow sign is lit and you can't always see if the taxi has no passenger.

I was told it meant the driver was Asian:eek:;)

mikemac1

Hah, you're right

Yellow lights are for the Asians


The reason the black drivers get no business is nobody can see their signs at night, it's unfortunate

drunkmonkey

Jumped into a taxi in dawson street friday night, big ass brother behind the wheel, didn't know where abbey street was, said just off o'connell street, that drew a blank expression from him, eventually we went **** this and jumped out only to be followed by a hoard of more brothers trying to get us in their taxis, eventually spotted a white brother in a taxi coming the other way, we nearly kissed him when he stopped and praised the lord he was Irish.

Not one bit racist but for ffs, some of these brothers be saggin!!

jayteecork

mikemac1 wrote: »

Hah, you're right

Yellow lights are for the Asians


The reason the black drivers get no business is nobody can see their signs at night, it's unfortunate

Well why can't they put a blue light up seeing as they're "fear gorm"?

funnilenough

Taxi drivers, sure aren't they a grand bunch of lads,the whole lot of them,so they are.

aligator_am

The way I see it, if you get in a cab then you're a paying customer, it's your choice who you want to be driven home by.

I would like to know if there's the same general aversion for the public getting in to taxis driven by Indians / Pakistanis / Eastern Europeans etc.

I just wonder is this a situation where Irish people are avoiding black taxi drivers or does it cover just non whites (Indians / Pakistanis etc.)

I also wonder if it's not moreso to do with the Nigerian population's reputation for scamming, and that people are avoiding all black drivers for fear that they may be Nigerian?

darlett

Last time I was out in dublin about me and my friends hailed a taxi cab on OConnell St outside our hotel. It stopped and we got in. It was driven by a black man. The guys the far side of oconnell st started going baluhbahs yelling all sorts of intimidating racist tripe at him. It was pure manky, the air was thick with threats and insults coming at our driver. Yes there was a taxi rank up the road, but we the customers had hailed a better placed taxi going by our way as we left a hotel.
He was knowledgeable of the route, softly spoken and a gentleman. It was cringeworthy that our 'own' would treat a decent chap like that.
I'm cant conclude anything in general from this, except those taxi-men, that night were behaving like the sort of taxi men I'd rather not travel with. Theres hardships up and down the country, and they are not the only ones who might feel they ve lost out jobs to the opening of borders but their behaviour was truly remarkable.

IrishAm

Why is there one non EU citizen driving a cab in Ireland?

As members of the EU, should all our low skilled labour needs not be pooled from there?

There are 500 million EU citizens. No need for non EU citizens to be here, doing low skilled work.

IrishAm

Nodin wrote: »

Have you seen any posts of mine attacking Irish taxi drivers? Do please share a quote and a link.

Attack away. Words on the internet mean nada. Anyway, you support their means of employment being saturised with non EU citizens.

What do you work at?

mikemac1

darlett wrote: »

Last time I was out in dublin about me and my friends hailed a taxi cab on OConnell St outside our hotel. It stopped and we got in. It was driven by a black man. The guys the far side of oconnell st started going baluhbahs yelling all sorts of intimidating racist tripe at him. It was pure manky, the air was thick with threats and insults coming at our driver. Yes there was a taxi rank up the road, but we the customers had hailed a better placed taxi going by our way as we left a hotel.
He was knowledgeable of the route, softly spoken and a gentleman. It was cringeworthy that our 'own' would treat a decent chap like that.
I'm cant conclude anything in general from this, except those taxi-men, that night were behaving like the sort of taxi men I'd rather not travel with. Theres hardships up and down the country, and they are not the only ones who might feel they ve lost out jobs to the opening of borders but their behaviour was truly remarkable.

That rank is a special case and not at all typical
It's controlled by the old timers
Most taxi drivers have plates since deregulation, these lads are old skool.

It's a bit strange as sometimes the taxis are empty and it's not clear where you the customer are to go.
If you want to go south you still have to take a north facing taxi but not necessarily the first one

There is sometimes a lad with a puffed out chest like an army general and his comrades around him directing things.
Also sometimes they leave a car at the end of the rank to block other drivers getting on

Worst rank in Ireland, avoid
Head down to Sackville Place, no issues there

IrishAm

mikemac1 wrote: »

T
Worst rank in Ireland, avoid
Head down to Sackville Place, no issues there

A lot of taxi drivers, be they foreign or no, are assholes.

If one is a non Dub, get the number of any sound taxi driver you find. Give him an hour or two notice. Use him regularly.

Is the author of this anti Irish garbage a member of one of the 200 taxpayer funded "Immigrant" or "anti racism" quangos or is she receiving their taxpayer funded coin?

Karpops

I had an awesome African driver once, he let me watch Planet of the Apes on his mini-DVD player and then let me select a CD to throw on. Absaloute gent! He didn't even kick me out when I started singing along

IrishAm

Karpops wrote: »

I had an awesome African driver once, he let me watch Planet of the Apes on his mini-DVD player and then let me select a CD to throw on. Absaloute gent! He didn't even kick me out when I started singing along

What visa does an african acquire to drive a taxi in Ireland?

How are they driving taxis?

blatantrereg

Nothing anti-irish about that article imo.
I would find lights and stickers like that offputting personally.
If I was driving a taxi in a foreign city and other drivers started doing the equivalent I would not be impressed.

IrishAm

blatantrereg wrote: »

Nothing anti-irish about that article imo.
Green lights and "irish driver" sticker. **** off tbh. (not you haha)
If I was driving a taxi in a foreign city and other drivers started doing the equivalent I would not be impressed. Even less impressed with **** doing it in the city I come from. I take exception to their representation of Irish people as ****tards. That's the only anti-Irish sentiment I see: ****tard Irish people representing Irish people as ****tards.

What line of work are you in, friend?

How would you feel if the state flooded it with non EU citizens?

ViveLaVie

daltonmd wrote: »

He has had incidents relating to the payment of fares before - always an issue with certain types, when these types (not only black women, but across the board) resort to making threats such as these, or behaving in a certain manner then he simply doesn't take them any more - ask any taxi driver who has had a drunk vomit in the back or had a fare to a specific area do a runner.

In this case he had had issues with black women and it culminated to this experience so he doesn't take them anymore - as I said, in his 22 years of driving a taxi he never had a white woman accuse him of being racist in the first place and then resort to threats regarding sexual assualt in the second.

Ask any taxi driver, and s/he'll tell you s/he has had issues with non-payment, verbal abuse and excessive drunken behaviour from plenty of Irish people. The driver doesn't suddenly refuse to drive Irish people any more though. While I understand that the taxi driver you're talking about had an awfully traumatic experience, I really think it's quite terrible that he is judging all black people to be the same. It'd be like if you emigrated to a foreign country and were refused service by a local because s/he had had a bad experience with another Irish person once.


I have also heard a lot of stories about foreign taxi drivers having to suffer verbal abuse, racist remarks and threats from Irish people. Does this automatically mean all Irish people are racist and ignorant? No... but following your logic it would.

I have had some very negative experiences with Irish taxi drivers. One guy was actually on something and kept taking his hands off the wheel, laughing and deliberately veering onto the wrong side of the road at speed.

Another Irish taxi driver put his hand on my friend's face and squeezed quite hard. This was completely random and really bizarre.

I had a lovely experience with a Nigerian taxi man, who was playing music I liked and joined in when I started singing along (I was after a few!).

I have also had lovely Irish taxi drivers and not so pleasant foreign ones. It just comes down to whether someone is a nice person or not. IMO that is not at all connected to skin colour, race, religion, orientation etc.

IrishAm

ViveLaVie wrote: »

I had a lovely experience with a Nigerian taxi man, who was playing music I liked and joined in when I started singing along (I was after a few!).

How did he obtain a visa to work in Ireland as a lowly skilled taxi driver?

Jesus Wept

I'd prefer a foreign driver, they should get their own light. Haven't notice this, anyone have a picture?

IrishAm

Andy Carroll wrote: »

I'd prefer a foreign driver

Have you thought about emigration?

Not a lot of Irish cabbies abroad, I hear. Might suit.

dave3004

You really don’t know how lucky you have it in Ireland.

I am living in Melbourne and the taxi situation here is appalling.

Not one Ozzie is a taxi driver. All foreigners, with little english and absolutely no idea where they are going.

I've only been here 2 years but know my way around quite well.

An example. I live in Southbank. Beside Crown Casino. A landmark in Melbourne.
I wanted to go to Chapel St. The "Grafton St" of Melbourne. Taxi didn't know how to get there.

This is just a quick example. There is no exam to be passed, no local knowledge to be learned to become a taxi driver here.

The standards are poor and the queues are long.

You could be in a ditch in Wicklow, spew your address in a drunken haze and you wake up outside your doorstep for a few pence.

IrishAm

dave3004 wrote: »

Not one Ozzie is a taxi driver. All foreigners, with little english and absolutely no idea where they are going.

How do they get visas?

blatantrereg

IrishAm wrote: »

What line of work are you in, friend?

How would you feel if the state flooded it with non EU citizens?

I do compete directly with non-EU citizens.
Going for higher quality work and specialisation are positive tactics.
The former is applicable to taxi driving. I always use the same taxi company because I am consistently happy with their service.
Conversely I had a taxi driver call me up and **** me out of it after I cancelled a call. Smart of him. Maybe it was inconvenient for him or he felt justified. All he achieved was making sure I didn't use him again though.
Positive tactics are usually best. You can't undo increased competition. Getting hung up on it achieves nothing but unnecessary distress.
I do take your point though, and get your point of view. While I still dont think the article is anti-Irish, I do think the generalised namecalling in my last post was uncalled for, and have edited it to reflect that.

opinion guy

IrishAm wrote: »

What visa does an african acquire to drive a taxi in Ireland?

How are they driving taxis?

IrishAm wrote: »

How did he obtain a visa to work in Ireland as a lowly skilled taxi driver?

IrishAm wrote: »

How do they get visas?

Why are you obsessed with how people got visas ?

The fact is they got visas. Therefore they are working as the are legally entitled to do. Simple as. No problem.

IrishAm

opinion guy wrote: »

The fact is they got visas.

Prove it. Where is/was the Irish government passed legislation entitling non EU citizens to obtain visas and work as cab drivers?

Proof, please.

Ta.

IrishAm

blatantrereg wrote: »

I do compete directly with non-EU citizens.

What industry. For comparisons sake.

Not one fuck do I give about anecdotal tales. Taxi drivers, irregardless of their ethnicity, arent game ball.

IrishAm

micropig wrote: »

It's about time the Taxi industry in Ireland sorted itself out. I don't care what nationality the driver is, as long as he can drive, clean car, decent price.

No doubt farm boy here, in the most subsided profession in the Irish state, is going to refuse farmers dole, return all CAP funds received and start the practice what he preaches, right? Right?

mikeruurds

IrishAm wrote: »

Prove it. Where is/was the Irish government passed legislation entitling non EU citizens to obtain visas and work as cab drivers?

Proof, please.

Ta.

There are plenty people of non-Irish origin that have obtained nationality legally and are entitled to work.

If you believe that all non-Irish taxi drivers are working illegally then you've uncovered a major scam and I'm sure that the Garda National Immigration Bureau would appreciate a tip-off. Clearly they hadn't thought of this.

stannis

Morlar wrote: »

Plenty of islamic taxi drivers advertise their religon within the car, playing islamic music, having korans and islamic texts prominently on display etc., I wonder if varadkar is also going to be bothered by that at all ?

Of course not. If years of indoctrination have taught me nothing else, it's that only white people can be racist. When other ethnicities separate themselves from the general population in some way, it's called multiculturalism, and the telly told me that it's A Good Thing.

Spook_ie

micropig wrote: »

I here you a racist now father:p

It's about time the Taxi industry in Ireland sorted itself out. I don't care what nationality the driver is, as long as he can drive, clean car, decent price.


The worst I ever got ripped off was by an Irish Taxi driver who charged €75 for a 6KM journey. When asked for a receipt, he picked up a scrap of paper (old tesco receipt) off the floor and wrote €7.50 on it... WTF??.

Professional drivers my hole, it's scumbag Irish drivers like Jacko in the story above that give others a bad name. Now when in that town, I will never get in to a Taxi with an Irish driver. A foreign driver brought me on the same journey a week later for €10.

There has to be more to that story than you just paid him €75 for a 6km trip, go on lets here the rest of it

Spook_ie

Victor wrote: »

It as much says "I'm Irish, hire me because I'm Irish"

And how is that different from shops advertising they sell Irish produce, buy me I'm grown in Ireland! is that racist? if it's not then what's racist about advertising where you were grown? or is it just PC gone mad again (as per usual )

Another thing is that surely it's NOT the taxi drivers with the green lights who're racist but the customers who'd use them, maybe a case of removing the plank from ones own eye before trying to remove the splinter from someone elses

Nodin

IrishAm wrote: »

Attack away. Words on the internet mean nada. Anyway, you support their means of employment being saturised with non EU citizens.

....you've stats to show that?

biko

IrishAm wrote: »

Prove it. Where is/was the Irish government passed legislation entitling non EU citizens to obtain visas and work as cab drivers?

Proof, please.

Ta.

I know how it's done but I'm not going to tell you. The onus is on you to disprove it.
They are here - they drive taxis, work in factories, hospitals and offices. Some will stay, some will leave. That's life, get used to it.

desertcircus

IrishAm wrote: »

opinion guy wrote: »

The fact is they got visas.

Prove it. Where is/was the Irish government passed legislation entitling non EU citizens to obtain visas and work as cab drivers?

Proof, please.

Ta.

I think you have the burden of proof the wrong way round there. You're claiming that there's large-scale illegal working in a specific industry, so you get to provide evidence. Opinionguy is arguing that the holders of taxi licences are legally entitled to hold said licences, so he gets to rely on the assumption that a regulatory body didn't completely forget that it's meant to regulate.

Ta.

RealistSpy

I love After Hours

Do people these days still judge by superficial means because it's 2012 and there plenty of Black Irish or African Irish..whatever.

lividduck

IrishAm wrote: »

Prove it. Where is/was the Irish government passed legislation entitling non EU citizens to obtain visas and work as cab drivers?

Proof, please.

Ta.

Any person who is succesful in an asylum application is granted leave to remain/residency status and is then entitled to work without any further or additional documentation, which is right and proper.

lividduck

IrishAm wrote: »

What industry. For comparisons sake.

Not one fuck do I give about anecdotal tales. Taxi drivers, irregardless of their ethnicity, arent game ball.

Hilarious statement from a poster who persistantly relies on anecdotal tales and suppositions.

Cianos

mishkalucy wrote: »

No, I am a basing it on taxi drivers, not race.
As I said I have taken hundreds of taxi's over the years and never had any of this happen other than these three incidents.
Statistically speaking the odds are seriously against the 3 drivers I mentioned, I mean a very modest estimation over the last 20 years and 3 non-national drivers carry on like this???
BTW if I was racist, I would never have gotten into the taxi in the first place having seen who was driving.

I'm afraid you are racist. Due to your limited (and I sympathise that you had to deal with 3 very uncomfortable scenarios, however 3 people don't represent a race of people, you were just unlucky) personal experience, you are now placing prejudgement on other members of that race and using this prejudgement to put them to a disadvantage by not only witholding your custom for which the law has deemed them equally entitled to, but recommending others to do the same.

Of course the damage isn't just to taxi drivers, it's to the wider immigrant community where attitudes like yours do little to help integration and tolerance and will help lead to bigger problems down the line.

BTW if I was racist, I would never have gotten into the taxi in the first place having seen who was driving.

Maybe you weren't racist before, but are now, since according to yourself you couldn't have been called racist for getting the taxis in the first place, but now since you refuse to get a taxi with a black driver, using your same definition you should be called racist;

mishkalucy wrote:

I will never get into another taxi with a non-national driver again, call me what you will.

Again I sympathise that you have had bad experiences, but you have to realise you're using those bad experiences to place judgement against others of the same race unfairly. I think it's understandable given it's natural for people to form patterns as a defensive mechanism, but you have to realise your own experiences, while important to you, are very limited in the grand scheme of things and for that reason shouldn't be used as an argument about race, and will only make you come across as a bit of a racist.

Hermy

Dunnes Stores have a slogan "The difference is we're Irish." Is this similarly racist?

prinz

Hermy wrote: »

Dunnes Stores have a slogan "The difference is we're Irish." Is this similarly racist?

No. You would have a point if the slogan was "The difference is our staff are Irish".

cournioni

I'm just glad that there are enough taxi's on the roads now to get you home after a night on the piss and not leave you stranded.

Hermy

prinz wrote: »

No. You would have a point if the slogan was "The difference is our staff are Irish".

So if I say my taxi company is Irish that's okay?

prinz

Hermy wrote: »

So if I say my taxi company is Irish that's okay?

http://www.irishtaxihire.com/

Hermy

Damn! Beaten to it.

mikemac1

you show, I go

pabloh999

How can people who just landed here from outside the EU get garda approval to drive taxi,s?
How can the relevant background checks be carried out on a person with no background?
I think this is a serious issue. People with student visas or only in OUR country a very short while driving members sometime vulnerable members of the public around in taxis.

eviltwin

I get into the first taxi I see, couldn't care less who is driving. The only bad experience I have had is with an Irish driver who tried to drag me out of a taxi one day because he thought I had jumped the queue. I hadn't, the taxi had picked me up from work and was waiting for me while I dropped something into a client. I took his number and reported him but of course it went nowhere.

Was in a taxi with an Indian driver once who missed the turn off for my house one night and the it added another ten minutes onto the journey...before I said anything he told me that he was very sorry and didn't charge me at all :eek: This is a journey that costs about 30 quid :eek::eek: I tried to give him something and he refused, very decent guy and just goes to show you can't tar them all with the same brush.

lividduck

pabloh999 wrote: »

How can people who just landed here from outside the EU get garda approval to drive taxi,s?
How can the relevant background checks be carried out on a person with no background?
I think this is a serious issue. People with student visas or only in OUR country a very short while driving members sometime vulnerable members of the public around in taxis.[/QUOTE]
Link to evidence for this claim?