Taxi groups said an escalating dispute with the American company could determine the entire future of the Irish taxi industry.

Ireland has almost 18,000 taxi drivers, with roughly one-third signed up to Uber’s app-based dispatch service.

Taxi Drivers Ireland (TDI) official Derek O’Keeffe said hundreds of drivers are turning off the Uber app as part of a campaign against the impact of the app-based dispatch service on the Irish industry.

“We won’t back down,” Mr O’Keeffe said. “The livelihood of taxi drivers depends on it. We won’t allow [Uber] to run the Irish industry into the ground.

“We have seen the devastating effect this had on Barcelona a number of years ago.

“They come in and destabilise the market, they push out the regulated taxis until they have a control on the market, and

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