Review set after former criminal lands security job at airport

The Irish Aviation Authority said yesterday it would be reviewing security after it was discovered that a former criminal had been appointed security officer at the control tower at Dublin Airport.

Mr Alan Croghan, who described himself as "a convicted and former criminal now turned investigative journalist", said he went undercover working for Top Security, a Dublin firm which handled security at the control tower.

According to Mr Croghan, his criminal past went undetected after he lied on an application form and was given the job 20 minutes after a walk-in interview at the Gresham Hotel in Dublin. After working on two low-security sites he was sent to the airport site where he was made responsible for checking people in and out of the control tower.

Writing in a Sunday newspaper yesterday, Mr Croghan said he was given full security control of the tower, including control of the alarms and master keys, and regularly visited the control room to chat with air-traffic controllers.

The report acknowledges that Top Security did ask him to fill out a request to the Garda Central Vetting Unit for a certificate from the criminal record database. The certificate was to be posted to Mr Crogan's home address, and Top Security requested sight of it when it arrived.

However, Mr Croghan insists he was sent to the airport in advance of the security certificate which had still not arrived after eight weeks. The report does not make it clear if Mr Croghan left of his own volition after the eight-week period or if the company pressed him for the security certificate at that time.

Yesterday a spokesman for Top Security said Mr Raymond O'Shea, operations manager, would handle inquiries, but was not then available for comment.

A spokeswoman for the Irish Aviation Authority also declined to comment "beyond saying that our arrangements were placed with a legitimate company which we took in good faith". She declined to discuss Mr Croghan's claims as the issue was one of security. However, it is understood the authority was urgently reviewing arrangements at the airport yesterday in the light of the claims.

A spokeswoman for Aer Rianta said Mr Croghan "had given the impression that he could wander around the airport's restricted areas at will", but this was not the case.

She insisted Mr Croghan did not have access to any Aer Rianta site which would include access to the aircraft or equipment "airside" and would have been identified as a former criminal if he had attempted to secure clearance.

It is also understood that a similar undercover stunt perpetuated on a baggage-handling service at the airport was discovered by the company involved and the prospective employee refused a job.

In a move which is embarrassing for the airport in the light of the first anniversary of the September 11th hijackings, Mr Croghan told the newspaper: "It would have been very easy for me to allow any number of terrorists into the tower, which is within walking distance of the runways and parked aircraft, armed with an array of weapons and explosives."