Letters

Dublin Airport – a national embarrassment

DAA is not fit for purpose

Tue May 31 2022 - 00:11

Sir, – Underlying the frustration I felt on Sunday at Dublin Airport was a deep sense of embarrassment.

As I queued for an hour to get into Terminal 1, another two hours to get through security and another four for stand-by tickets after missing our flight, I met visitors from France, the UK, the US and Germany. Not one of us could understand how the DAA could so utterly fail to calculate the resources needed to get passengers through the airport. Airline tickets are booked well in advance and numbers should not have been a surprise. Instead it was chaos. There were arguments and tears (and that was just the adults). It felt unsafe at times.

If I wasn’t from Dublin, I wouldn’t choose to return after this experience. – Yours, etc,

EVA MOLYNEUX,

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Glenageary,

Co Dublin.

A chara, – Viewing the angry scenes and endless queues at Dublin Airport confirms my view that it’s high time other regional airports, like Cork, were decoupled from the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) and allowed to chart their own way independently. A flashy new near-deserted terminal in Cork airport is of little use as long as the majority of passengers from the southern half of the country continue to be obliged to take the Aircoach on a 500km round-trip to Dublin thanks to the lack of routes served by Cork. – Is mise,

NICK FOLLEY,

Carrigaline,

Co Cork.

Sir, – Given the shambles that public services have become in Ireland, it is essential that the Government act swiftly and decisively to create a Department of Apologies. This would provide a single place where members of the public can search for the most relevant apology to their particular situation. It would also free up others to concentrate on whatever it is they do instead of their actual job. – Yours, etc,

BILL HARTE,

Rathmines,

Dublin 6.

Sir, – A spokesman for the DAA said on the evening news that the issue became apparent when the large numbers of passengers “presented”

People “presenting” is a term appropriate to hospital emergency departments, where there is no prior knowledge of what may happen. But with the DAA knowing the exact time and number of flights leaving Dublin, and therefore the number of passengers going to turn up at the airport, I have to ask can anyone at the DAA count. – Yours, etc,

PAUL MULLIGAN,

Dublin 6.

Sir, – I do not understand why the Government is not using the Army to man the security channels, leaving the more skilled role of observing the screens for suspicious items to the fully trained personnel. You do not need any training to ask people to take their liquids out or put their laptop in a separate tray.

The whole airport is run appallingly. My last flight was to Marseilles with Aer Lingus and was flying from Terminal 2 and yet our departure gate was in Terminal 1!

The DAA is not fit for purpose. – Yours, etc,

GRAHAM WILSON,

Rathmines,

Dublin 6.

Sir, – The DAA knows well in advance the number of flights leaving Dublin Airport every day. The authority would also have a very good handle on the number of passengers due to depart every day.

It should also know how many staff they need to process any given number of passengers on a daily basis.

Why then was it not prepared when 50,000 people were due to depart on Sunday? The only possible reasons that I can think of is either it feared loosing revenue if it cancelled flights or total incompetence.

Of course it is much easier and cheaper to hang the public out to dry. – Yours, etc,

JOHN CROTTY,

Dublin 16.

Sir, – As the unacceptable delays to passengers at Dublin Airport now approach a fourth month, the total lack of respect by the DAA for its customers is glaringly obvious. Already this year it significantly increased car parking prices as its major competitor ceased operations and it then tried and failed to introduce additional fees for motorists dropping off passengers at the airport.

Coupled with this is the concerning lapse in security last week when security was very slow in responding when a fight broke out in the terminal building. The board of this organisation needs to take responsibility and accountability for its very poor stewardship of the senior management team. It is obvious that the board is not fit for purpose and should resign. – Yours, etc,

JOHN BURNS,

Ballinteer,

Dublin 16.

Sir, – It bewilders me how the Government of an island nation in Europe allows both its own people and visitors to our shores be subject to such scenes of chaos and mismanagement at our our primary point of entry and departure as is being witnessed at Dublin Airport recently. The authority appointed to manage the facility is clearly inept, despite the massive revenue stream it controls through captured car parking, retail space rental, landing charges and who knows what else. Can we please establish the long-overdue second airport, privately run and properly serviced by rail to the city centre, before we put our country out of business? – Yours, etc,

MICHAEL ROE,

Ballymurn,

Co Wexford.

Sir, – Surely the chaos at Dublin Airport is largely a matter of simple mathematics. Asking people to arrive four hours early rather than two hours means you’ll have twice as many people queueing and not in order of their flight time. Result: crowds and chaos. – Yours, etc,

JEAN WEBSTER,

Limerick.

Sir, – Could I recommend to your readers to go onto the Dublin Airport Authority’s website and have a look of their Environmental, Social and Governance Strategy 2021 – 2023. It runs to 20 pages.

Against the background of the chaos at the airport over the weekend and previously, it is a side-splitting read, a masterpiece of corporate comedy.

Even the title is hilarious: “Moving Forward Together”. – Yours, etc,

DIARMUID BRENNAN,

Clonskeagh,

Dublin 14.

Sir, – How fortunate we are to live in a city whose airport authority loves us so much that it will not allow us to leave! – Yours, etc,

FRANK BYRNE,

Glasnevin,

Dublin 9.