Dublin Airport under pressure to clarify its plan to avoid repeat of last weekend’s chaos

Dublin Airport is coming under increasing pressure to clarify its plan to avoid a repeat of scenes which led to 1,400 people missing flights last weekend due to lengthy security queues.

Dublin Airport officials briefed Government Ministers on Wednesday morning on their plans to avoid a repeat of chaotic scenes last weekend.

Senior executives from airport operator DAA met Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan and Minister for State Hildegarde Naughton and gave them given details of the plan for the airport, which is expected to lead to staff redistribution to security and new queuing systems. The Oireachtas transport committee is to be briefed at 1.30pm.

Executives also met Mr Ryan on Tuesday, who later said the company had told them it could not guarantee that a repeat could be avoided over the bank holiday weekend.

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“That’s what I heard from the Dublin Airport Authority today, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t have the obligation to do absolutely everything to avoid it,” Mr Ryan said.

Minister of State Niall Collins told RTÉ's Primetime that the situation at Dublin Airport was “totally unacceptable” and the Government was “really, really annoyed”. He said DAA was on its “last chance” and had “one opportunity to get it right”.

He said that it was an option to bring in the Army under the aid to civil power function and that DAA has to “lay out their stall… and convince all of us”. He said it was a “worry” that the operator could not give Mr Ryan a categoric answer on whether repeat scenes could be avoided.

Union leaders criticised the DAA on Tuesday, with Siptu transport division official Jerry Brennan saying workers at the airport “have not been presented with a feasible or cohesive plan to address this situation”.

Mr Brennan also said there were issues with payroll administration and rostering systems which were delaying payments to workers and causing staffing issues, pushing back on suggestions from the DAA that absenteeism was a major contributory factor to the chaotic scenes on Sunday.

DAA said it acknowledged concerns had been raised over payroll systems which were knocked out by a cyberattack for three months, and it was “fully committed to ensuring that all our people are paid correctly – first time and every time”.

The airport operator was told that it had to publish a detailed plan to address the issues within 24 hours of Tuesday’s meeting with Ministers, and it is expected officials will again meet Mr Ryan and Minister of State Hildegarde Naughton before briefing the Oireachtas transport committee on Wednesday afternoon.

Siptu told Ms Naughton at a meeting on Tuesday that “inferior pay and conditions” were a “key factor” in what happened at the airport.

Ministers were told that DAA intended to improve queue management, maximise staffing resources and increase the number of security lanes at peak times. Mr Ryan said the airport had “let themselves down and the country down”.

During Leaders’ Questions in the Dáil, Minister for Public Expenditure Michael McGrath said the scenes at the airport were “completely unacceptable”.

“The message from the Government couldn’t be clearer – the DAA needs to do whatever it takes to make sure that this issue is addressed, and that we do not see those kinds of scenes again, in particular over the forthcoming bank holiday weekend,” he said.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney said: “It is really not acceptable for an airport that is as important and strategic as Dublin Airport is to Ireland and how it functions. We are an island, people have to get on and off the island.”

Mr Brennan said the diversion of staff from other areas of the airport, most particularly cleaning, was leading to consequences elsewhere. “We’ve heard lots of comments about the airport being filthy. There’s nobody to support (cleaners), they’re then expected to give assistance and support to security, but also keep the place clean, which is an impossibility.”

He said Staff redeployed from other areas also cannot work many functions within the security screening part of the airport as they did not have sufficient training.

There was sustained criticism from the Opposition over the issue in the Dáil. Sinn Féin and Labour said the pay and conditions at the airport, and the decision to let 1,000 workers go during the pandemic, were contributing to the backlogs at both terminals.

Measures to compensate those who missed flights were also discussed with the DAA on Tuesday, with more than 300 refund applications since the weekend – a figure which is expected to increase.

DAA said it is currently “finalising operational arrangements” to “deliver an improved passenger experience for everyone departing from Dublin Airport this weekend” and would communicate them on Wednesday.