FINALLY the momentous moment is upon us. Queen Elizabeth II is visiting. It is my fervent hope that, come Friday, she'll return to her own green and pleasant land having fostered harmony, peace and reconciliation between our countries.

But for me the far bigger national issue is the performance of Leinster on Saturday night, as they face Northampton in the Heineken Cup final.

And amid much concern for the well-being of the queen, my own preoccupation is the health and fitness of Brian O'Driscoll. I'm a Munster man myself but my household is home to three Leinster fans, so I'll be donning the blue in solidarity on Saturday.

Come on the Laighan Kings!

There's always been criminality in taxi industry... time to clean it up

SO something is rotten in Dublin's taxi industry.

Tell us a story we don't know.

As a resident of Dublin for 40 odd years, and a serving garda for most of them, I can assure you that there has always been a seedy underbelly to the taxi trade in the capital. I can only presume it's repeated in other areas of the country.

The issue came to the fore this week with a Prime Time Investigates documentary, which revealed a number of frankly shocking stories.

Taxi regulator Kathleen Doyle was watching, as well she should have been. She's now promised prosecutions on foot of some of the matters uncovered. But it appears that Ms Doyle's office may have taken their eye off the ball.

Ever since I was a young garda in Dublin I had close connections with many taxi drivers, personally and professionally.

Rogue

I know that many men and women working in the business are decent, hardworking and law-abiding.

But the Prime Time expose showed that Dublin can hardly be proud of its cabbies.

There has always been a rogue element in the industry that has been a cover for criminal activity.

Throughout my time as a detective, while the majority of drivers were law-abiding, there were a number who used their cars for criminal activity.

Guns and criminals were ferried by these taxis.

I also recall a scandal in the 1970s when a number of PSV inspectors, serving gardai, were involved in bribery and corruption scandal. They were prosecuted and were dismissed from the force.

So impropriety in this industry is, sadly, nothing new.

Before deregulation taxi plates were essentially a licence to print money. They were like gold bars, fetching £60,000 and more when they were sold.

Since deregulation a huge number of licences have been issued, making the business very difficult for many, many people. Temptation and corruption soon follow.

Prime Time Investigates also exposed the case of a Co Meath taxi-man who hired out taxi licences to journalists posing as drivers, without requesting PSI details. Two of the taxis were not roadworthy, yet they had NCT certs. It emerged that the NCT testers were being bribed to award certs. These cars were death traps.

This does not surprise me. I have used taxis in Dublin and many of them were old bangers.

Other details emerged in the programme that will cause alarm and fear for those who will use the taxi services.

Of 42,000 new licences issued, 6,000 were to people with criminal records. Among these were convicted rapists who, amazingly, were deemed fit to be cabbies.

And then there are the allegations of racist abuse. In a 21st century city, we have a 'whites only' rank in Dublin, on O'Connell Street.

Prosecutions

The regulator and the gardai can move to clean up this situation.

For a start, no new licences should be issued to criminals who have received a prison sentence of more than five years. And they should be taken from those that have them.

Secondly, prosecutions must be taken against those who issue NCT certs for life-threatening bangers.

And would having a clean cab be too much to ask?

McCanns on the Late Late reminded me of poor Amy

I WATCHED The Late Late Show interview with Kate and Gerry McCann on the disappearance of their daughter Madeleine in Portugal.

It brought to mind the case of missing Amy Fitzpatrick, the Dublin teenager who disappeared from her family home in Spain three years ago.

At the time I travelled to Malaga for the Herald with a reporter, and I remember meeting Amy's family. Speaking with her distraught mum Audrey was a very emotional experience. I also recall walking the waste ground where the youngster went missing, and seeing the shock displayed by Amy's friends.

In recent weeks Amy's case is back in the news, amid reports that she had been drinking and frequenting bars in the period before she went missing. Such allegations merely serve to divert attention away from the hunt for Amy, and also traduce the youngster's memory.

Amid all the speculation the fact remains that this young Dublin girl is missing and sadly, may be buried in an unmarked grave somewhere.

We can only hope that whoever abducted her will be brought to justice and that Amy's body will be recovered, for a proper Christian burial.

Surely the focus must remain on the investigation, not the tittle tattle.

- Gerry O'Carroll