Vincent Kearns and Tommy Gorman had an unenviable job when they walked down Kildare Street to advise taxi drivers to call off their protest.
When the message from the National Taxi Drivers' Union became clear, some of the drivers grew openly hostile to the NTDU officials. "Are you telling us to go home?" one man shouted. "We have no homes to go to."
Mr Kearns, NTDU vice-president, told the crowd the union could not encourage drivers to continue protesting as that would put their homes and livelihoods at stake. "We cannot allow our members to be vulnerable as the farmers were in their dispute," he said.
Mr Kearns said seven drivers were in the High Court as he spoke, and they would be agreeing to desist from any further blockades.
He said one driver had suffered a brain haemorrhage and a stroke because of the protest. Another had suffered a heart attack, and a young driver had a nervous breakdown.
Asked if he had a mortgage like the rest of the drivers, Mr Kearns said he had to make repayments of £3,000 a month. "I'm not going to lose that," he said.
Mr Kearns told the drivers they had made their point and that they could park at their ranks if they wished to continue the protest.
He also pointed out that NTDU would be holding a meeting today when members could vote on the correct action to take.
He said members could also vote to remove the leadership if they so chose. Asked if members could vote to go on strike, he said: "Yes, but there must be procedures."
Later yesterday, Mr Peter Rogers, a SIPTU representative, told the crowd that although they would have to call off the vehicle blockade, they could protest in many other ways. He said they could still cause traffic disruption. "We are not going to go away," he said, to cheers.
