And of course, the f-word, father, the bad f-word, worse than "feck" - you know the one I mean...

"That sort of language" really upsets Mrs Doyle and I certainly did not expect to hear it from the Taxi Driver as soon as I called out my destination.

Image Copyright dublintaxi.blogspot.com

Arriving into Dublin airport on Monday morning I was a bit surprised when the first words out of the Taxi driver's mouth were "F**K OFF!"

I knew it was a bit much to expect a Fáilte at 09:00 in the morning but not nice to get the alternate Dublin F-greeting.


It turns out that a fare from your airport to Coolock is not what a taxi driver who has been waiting 4 hours is hoping for.  I offered to get out and take the next taxi but he decided he would prefer €15 to nothing.

OK – I am a regular business traveller through the airport and I am used to this sort of thing and hear worse during my working day but consider if I was first time American visitor and this was my welcome to Ireland – or worse still a visiting journalist or travel business professional. 

The real problem is that there are 17000 taxis in Dublin and "arny fule two days off the boat can get a license; the f-inng test is always the same..."- it is rumoured that, post deregulation, the city has more taxis than New York - and I can believe it (http://dublintaxi.blogspot.com/2010/01/airport-taxis.html)