Travel test stand-off
Airports insist Covid screenings need approval from minister
THE authority that runs Dublin and Cork Airports has hit back at Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien for trying to blame it for not getting the rapid Covid testing of airline passengers off the ground.
The furious row between the two State agencies erupted after DAA boss Dalton Philips appeared before the Oireachtas Transport Committee last week.
And it seems Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan could be drawn into the dispute as he is due to be asked about rapid Covid tests at airports when he appears before the Dáil committee this week.
A source said: ‘The members of the committee want to find out what is going on between the Department of Housing and the DAA about this planning exemption and members of the committee will be asking the Chief Medical Officer about testing at airports.
‘There are a lot of jobs at stake at both Dublin and Cork airports.’
Meanwhile, according to Mr Philips, pre-flight tests could be introduced ‘within days’ if only a government minister signed a planning permission waiver order. This would mean that a planning application would not have to be lodged and, as a result, rapid test centres could open straight away.
Since the outbreak of Covid-19 here last March the DAA insists it has lost €1m a day and the airport authority has warned that as many as 1,000 jobs could be lost at Dublin and Cork airports.
Dublin Airport is in the heart of Housing Minis t e r Darragh O’Brien’s constituency and the airport provides up to 15,700 jobs to locals. However, when asked about the DAA boss’ revelations about planning regulations blocking the introduction of Covid tests at airports, a spokesman for Minister O’Brien said: ‘There is not a planning issue and this isn’t a matter for Minister O’Brien.
‘SI (Statutory Instrument) 93 of 2020 already exempts the HSE when providing such temporary testing facilities associated with the current pandemic from any planning control, whether at an airport or elsewhere.
‘So they don’t need our approval for any testing facility.’
However, when the Department of Housing’s response was put to the DAA the airport authority insisted Minister O’Brien and his officials were mistaken.
A spokeswoman for the DAA said: ‘DAA’s preference is to offer predeparture testing to passengers onsite at Dublin and Cork airports.
‘As Mr Philips outlined at the committee this requires planning permission and this can be obtained through Statutory Instrument 93/2020.’
The spokeswoman added: ‘Thus far the State has not provided DAA with the planning exemption under this SI and in that context we cannot at this point offer on-site testing at our airports.’