Airport chiefs have been ordered to provide solutions this morning on how they plan to prevent chaotic scenes ahead of the June Bank Holiday Weekend.
Taoiseach Micheal Martin has said what happened on Sunday was “unacceptable” but ruled out the Irish army being deployed to help.
Green Party leader and Transport Minister Eamon Ryan met with Dublin Airport Authority yesterday and gave them 24 hours to come up with a plan to ensure thousands of holidaymakers don’t miss their flights again. DAA CEO Dalton Philips and his management team are being hauled before a Dail Committee tomorrow to face questioning from TDs on what exactly led to the delays.
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Speaking following a meeting at Dublin Airport, Minister Ryan said management needed to compensate over 1,000 people who missed their flight.
He added that DAA must be aware of the reputational damage done to the airport and the country.
Minister Ryan said: “It was totally unacceptable. You can’t have one thousand people missing flights, you can’t have thousands of people outside, queuing outside the terminal building.
“They [DAA] acknowledged that, they accepted it was a terrible failing and we have to address it, and they have to address it.
“But we said to them they have to deliver it, and to come back to us with solutions and options so what happened doesn’t happen again.”
Minister Ryan said the meeting was “frank and robust” and management were told there was a lot of frustration within Government over the airport’s handling of the situation.
Speaking ahead of an EU Summit in Brussels yesterday evening, Mr Martin said: “People should not be treated in that way.
“There will be daily meetings between the Department of Transport and the DAA.
“The Government is looking for a very clear plan to ensure that this type of thing doesn’t happen again.
“It has to be done now to improve the operational efficiency at Dublin Airport.
“It is unacceptable what has happened, and it is not good enough.”
Minister Ryan said he does not believe “the army coming in will overcome the immediate problem,” despite Ryanair CEO Eddie Wilson calling for them to be deployed. When asked if the army should get involved, the Taoiseach said: “The answer lies within human resource management within the DAA and planning within the organisation also.”
Minister Ryan said: “It’s an operational issue for the airport.. a very large increase in demand for people flying but at the same time real difficulty getting skilled workers, particularly in the
scanning, screening area in place.
“Whatever the reason, a combination of reasons, increase of demand, shortage of key staff at an important time... they have to make sure they’re able to manage the people going through the airport.”
A spokesman for Dublin Airport said that passengers who missed flights on Sunday can claim for any out-of-pocket expenses they subsequently had to pay.
This will include any costs incurred in changing flights, any overnight accommodation needed if flights were missed, and related taxi or other transport costs to and from hotels.
Officials from DAA will seek receipts and evidence of flight bookings to substantiate claims.
The authority said it hopes to have a claims form page posted on its website soon.
Meanwhile Brid Smith, People Before Profit TD for Dublin South Central, said the airport chaos is culmination of utter contempt management have shown for workers and customers.
She said: “Dublin Airport Authority let go 248 staff through a voluntary redundancy scheme.
“They then tried to hire new workers for €14 an hour. But the workers were only guaranteed 20 hours work and a further 20 hours were ‘flexible’.
“What sort of a crazy management team could come up with that scheme?”
She said DAA managers should be “sacked and replaced with workers representatives who know how an airport works”.
Ms Smith continued: “Rates of pay and contracts for airport security must be restored to pre-Covid standards to help with the recruitment and retention of staff.”
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