Army won’t be deployed as airport security staff
Despite Ryanair boss’s prediction of chaos ahead for months...
THE Defence Forces will not be deployed to sort out the security check chaos at Dublin Airport, despite more calls yesterday from Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary for their help.
And after dozens of airline passengers had to wait outdoors in sub-zero temperatures yesterday morning, the Dublin Airport Authority conceded that the chaos may continue for weeks.
Passengers for early morning flights stood queuing in -4C temperatures so they could make their Easter getaway departures.
In a statement issued when photos of the scenes emerged on social media, the DAA insisted the situation had been well-managed.
A DAA spokesman said: ‘With Dublin Airport prepared for an extremely busy Easter holiday period ahead, passengers were heeding our advice from very early this morning to arrive at the airport up to three and a half hours before their departure time.
‘This resulted in us having to stagger the flow of passengers into the terminals which was well managed by Airport Police with assistance from An Garda Síochána. Queues for check-in, bag drop and security moved well this morning in advance of the first wave of departures, with average queue time of around an hour before 6am.’
However, Mr O’Leary predicted months of chaos for airline passengers unless the Army is assigned to do security check duties. He told RTÉ’s Countrywide programme: ‘Dublin Airport have held their hands up and said, you know, they’ve got their recruitment wrong.
‘It is a little bit more difficult to recruit airport staff at the moment because they have to have specific security clearance so they’re short about 200 security staff,’ he said.
‘They think they’ll be able to recruit these over the next few weeks but April and May is going to continue to be problematic.
‘We think the solution is to bring in some Army personnel, particularly at weekends, because they can do the pat-downs and the call-throughs and free up those people to open all the X-Ray machines.’
He added: ‘The Army have the most expertise in security. If you want someone to manage security or to do patting down or calling people through, the Army are the best in Europe at it and the European Union would accept that.’
However, the DAA yesterday said it has not asked the Army for help.
The Defence Forces and officials at the Department of Defence also said they had not received any requests for help.
Meanwhile, it has emerged that holidaymakers are changing their travel plans and booking later flights in a bid to beat queues at the airport.
A travel industry source told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘People have already made their bookings for Easter not knowing that they’d be facing into the mess that’s in Dublin Airport now.
‘But after Easter, I know the bookings are down for these earlymorning flights which are usually the most heavily booked of all. Now everyone is trying to get on flights later in the day. If you have to be at the airport at 3am, and if you live in Dublin, you have to leave your
‘They can do pat-downs and call-throughs’
‘There’s no point in going to bed’
house at 2am at the latest – there’s no point going to bed. So you arrive at your destination wrecked and you miss a day of your holiday.
‘Traditionally, the time between 5.30am and 7.30am is the busiest time for travel for both business and leisure but that looks like it will change. Anyone in their right mind, will try to avoid these times.
‘We’re also expecting to see people just turning their back on Dublin Airport altogether, whether that’s going on a ferry instead or holidaying in Ireland or going to Belfast Airport.’