Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

Was yesterday's taxi protest the largest in the history of the State? If it was not, it was certainly the largest taxi protest seen in this country this century. Why would it not be? Nearly one taxi driver in four is disqualified from the Covid payment on the grounds of age. The Government has refused to put together a proper package to assist drivers to go back to work.

How many people were at the protest? I am not sure if anyone can say with certainty. The taxi unions originally estimated that there would be 1,500 cars. We can say with certainty that the numbers at the protest were significantly greater than that. Could it have been as many as 5,000 cars? I think it might well have been. When the cars gathered in Conyngham Road, outside the Phoenix Park, the queue stretched back through Chapelizod and all the way to Ballyfermot.

Where did the taxi protest feature on the Nine News on RTÉ last night? It was not the first or second story, which were about the Government's Covid plan and the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly. It was not the third, fourth or fifth story. I do not think it featured on the news at all last night, which is incredible.

We have seen this before. In the aftermath of the banking crisis, in 2009 and 2010, workers' protests were downplayed on the RTÉ news and often not reported at all. That was shown most graphically in the biased coverage of protests against the water charges. Are we seeing the same thing again this time?

The struggle of the Debenhams workers is 160 days old but has not received nearly the level of coverage that it deserves from RTÉ. It is a struggle that is a litmus test for how workers are treated during this Covid crisis. The taxi drivers are now being given the same treatment by RTÉ. It is not good enough. Deputies from Solidarity-People Before Profit will be keeping a close eye on all the media coverage, including RTÉ's coverage, of workers' and taxi drivers' struggles over the next while. If there is not the fair, balanced and adequate coverage that it deserves, we will be raising the matter and calling it out on the floor of the Dáil.

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