Dublin Airport workers have been spat at, verbally abused, and physically assaulted by irate passengers amid frustrations at unprecedented queues.
The accusations were made by fed-up crews from the airport’s 600 security staff who want airport police and gardai to protect them from passengers who cannot control their anger at missing flights.
Never-before-seen levels of delays and disruption at Dublin Airport have been spiralling since they first emerged over the St Patrick’s Day holiday and have now reached crisis point, according to workers and their union reps.
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Chiefs at Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) have been made aware of the claims – while gardai say they have not yet been asked to intervene.
One worker told the Irish Mirror: “Security staff have been spat at and verbally abused by some angry passengers and some have even been assaulted because of the long queues in T1.”
SIPTU aviation sector organiser Niall Phillips insisted “no level of frustration” excuses violence and appealed to passengers to be “patient” and “respect the workers” who are “under extreme pressure”.
He said: “Members have confirmed incidents of alleged pushing and spitting and abuse and other issues. Passengers are understandably frustrated, but no level of frustration can excuse this behaviour. This is not the fault of workers.
“It is not clear if these have been isolated incidents or if they are becoming daily occurrences, but shop stewards are holding meetings to find out the issues. There is talk of airport police and even gardai coming in to protect workers, who are under extreme pressure.”
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DAA described the long queues as a “perfect storm” of Covid-19 restrictions being lifted, a surge in air travel, and staff shortages due to job losses caused by the pandemic, recruitment training issues, and worker absences due to Covid infection.
But passengers have been scathing of the delays and complained that they are compounded by security staff conducting a high volume of random bag searches and also by not letting pregnant women and families with young children to progress through the snaking queues.
DAA was asked by the Irish Mirror to respond to the claims of alleged abuse. Its head of communications, Kevin Cullinane, responded that DAA is facing a “unique challenge” but that everyone at Dublin Airport “wants to restore our reputation” and are “exploring all avenues as we try to resolve the issue of security delays”, including the recruitment of “up to 300 new security personnel”.
He said: “Senior management are supporting frontline colleagues to help all passengers and ensure the smooth running of Dublin Airport. Given the unique challenge currently facing Dublin Airport - as we battle the perfect storm of staff shortages, a difficult recruitment market, lengthy onboarding times for new staff, and high Covid absence rates - we have asked our teams from across the business to lend their support.”
He added: “Passengers appreciate that everyone working at Dublin Airport wants to restore our reputation and help our passengers get to their final destination as efficiently and as smoothly as possible while we attempt to restore our customer service to a level we would all be proud of. We greatly appreciate the support and co-operation of all passengers as we work our way through the current challenges.”
Since January 1, a new enhanced background check is needed under EU aviation laws prior to the issuing of mandatory airport identification cards.
Terms and conditions and rates of pay have been criticised by people, including Taoiseach Micheal Martin, with some claiming the pay – which is an estimated hourly rate of €14.14 for a €283 weekly wage from a 20-hour week - deters new staff.
But DAA chief Dalton Philips defended rates of pay for airport security staff and said it is 35% higher than the national minimum wage, which has been €10.50 an hour since January 1, this year. Mr Dalton also apologised for the delays and explained that there have been 15,000 extra passengers passing through the airport every day, which is 30% more than estimated.
Workers at the airport told the Irish Mirror that passengers become frustrated as soon as they arrive at the airport due to “the chaotic scenes”, the reduced number of open check-in desks, the knock-on effect into long queues, and limited staff numbers operating fewer than normal security screening lanes.
One said: “The situation is horrendous; it really is out of order. It has gone on too long at this stage. Staff shortages mean passengers are highly frustrated by the time that they reach security. But some behaviour is inexcusable and all passengers need to be warned that airport police can arrest until put them in a holding cell until gardai arrive.”
All passengers have been advised to allow longer time to be processed through from check-in and security to airside so that they do not risk missing flights. DAA advises passengers to arrive two hours before a short-haul flight and three hours prior to a long-haul flight.
But workers told the Irish Mirror that delays are estimated at up to two hours or longer and advise passengers to come up to four hours before their scheduled departure.
Airlines like Aer Lingus and Ryanair have warned their customers that rush hour at the airport security has been “busier than ever” due to staff shortages and stressed that it is out of their control. No reports of physical assault have been received to date by Garda Press Office.
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