Westport taxi service ‘must go both ways’

A Westport councillor has said that taxi services operating in Westport must work both ways in terms of bringing people into town but also getting them home again.

At the recent meeting of Westport-Belmullet Municipal District, Cllr Brendan Mulroy said that Westport was very lucky to be such a popular destination with so many coming to the town, especially at weekends. However, he said there is an issue around the availability of taxis after the pubs and late-night venues close and that women, in particular, must be able to get home safely.

“While it is great for people to come in to Westport it is equally important for people to be able to get home. We have hackneys, taxis and Uber operating in the town and it is very important these offer wraparound services that work efficiently, because when people are left on the streets it causes problems.” 

Cllr Mulroy suggested that a meeting be arranged with the Taxi Regulator and the National Transport Authority, particularly in light of the fact that Westport is continuing to expand with the Galway train service due to connect to the town.

“This will be a fantastic addition and a gamechanger, but we need to ensure the taxis are there to get people in and out, particularly young girls coming in from places such as Louisburgh and Kilmeena. It is vitally important when the nightclubs finish that they can get a taxi safely. It is not a blame game but just to ensure that every taxi and hackney provider we have in Westport is kept there.

"Coming up to the last election we had the highest percentage of queries around this. The problem now is population increase and the fact Westport is really busy.” 

The proposal was seconded by Cllr John O’Malley who added: “When we have that meeting, we will make sure we safeguard every taxi we have because every one that we have is needed. Coming out of a social area where there are no taxis to come home just breeds trouble. It only takes someone to look at someone’s girlfriend and then there is a row. Or a crowd gathers and there is a row over who gets first into the taxi, especially when the town is crowded at the weekends. People want to get home and a taxi needs to be there when someone comes out of a pub so that they are gone without any chance of causing trouble.”

• Published as part of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.