PINT-SWILLING PASSENGERS, long queues and overflowing toilets were among the issues raised with ministers at the Department of Transport by some of those who travelled through Dublin Airport at the start of the summer.
A shortage of security screening staff from the airport’s operator DAA has led to lengthy queues inside and outside the hub in recent months, causing some passengers to miss flights.
Late last month, the Government opted to send members of the Defence Forces for training to assist with security screening at Dublin Airport.
Despite reports of more long queues at the airport this week, Transport Minister Eamon Ryan said the Government would not cut passenger numbers at the airport to manage the flow of people, as Heathrow Airport in London announced it would do.
“It’s very interesting today, Heathrow is cutting capacity. We face that choice, we had a choice: do you cut capacity or do you try and look at other ways of making sure we keep things working?” he said at an event in Dublin yesterday.
“We took that second route, including having the Defence Forces on standby. I’m very glad they’re there. They’re able to provide that support for the next month. Please God we won’t need them.”
A selection of correspondence sent to Ryan and junior minister Hildegarde Naughton at the end of May, released under Freedom of Information, details the frustrations felt by passengers who used the airport as the summer travel season commenced.
The complaints were made during a week in which passengers began to face lengthy lines to get through security and when tents were put up to ‘triage’ passengers who arrived too early for their flights.
A Galway-based passenger who wrote to Naughton after using the airport said that although they had heard about problems before using the hub, they were “appalled by the degree of mayhem” they experienced.
“I was at least two hours waiting in the queue. Some elderly people were close to exhaustion and I saw one lady who appeared to be close to death because of the stress and length of time standing,” the person wrote.
“I met her later in the evening and she was suffering very severely.”
The same person claimed that they saw passengers skipping the queue and behaving “in a menacing fashion”.
“Order almost broke down which could have resulted in the queue system breaking down and serious injury being caused [due] to a stampede,” they added.
Another passenger who wrote to Eamon Ryan described the airport as a “disgrace”.
“Queues everywhere: check-in, security, eateries. Walkways filthy and the toilets a disgrace; blocked and overflowing toilets, urinals. I could go on. Something must be done urgently,” they wrote.
One person wrote to Ryan on behalf of their 81-year-old mother, whom they claimed had a “shocking and totally preventable” negative experience.
“There is simply no excuse whatsoever for the complete lack of staff outside to guide people safely into queues – hundreds of metres before entry to the terminal buildings – to maintain public order and safety, and to reduce stress,” the person wrote.
“There were many instances of shoving and pushing and queue jumping, causing huge distress and anger.”
The complainant called for hired security contractors to be brought in to help manage the problem.
‘Pints in their hands’
Meanwhile, another passenger complained to Ryan about the open consumption of alcohol by others using the airport.
“There were people wandering around the concourse with pints in their hands. My understanding is that that is illegal but no airport police challenged them,” the person said.
“In the men’s toilets I saw a man using a urinal whilst grasping a pint in his free hand. Really, quite unbelievable.”
The same person also complained that there was no information desk at Dublin Airport when they had a query, adding that they had never seen an airport without one before.
One person who picked up a group of passengers at Terminal 2 wrote to Hildegarde Naughton to question the lack of transport facilities available for those leaving the airport late at night.
“I can only describe the scenes as something you would see in the city on New Year’s Eve, or another equally busy night,” the complainant said.
“People begging you to take them home, women with young crying children on the verge of tears because there really was not a chance of getting a taxi home, other people walking down towards the roundabout desperately trying to flag a taxi down.”
The person suggested that the problem could be resolved by allowing “legitimate” taxis to pick up at the airport, which only those with a permit are currently allowed to do.
And another complainant who wrote to Ryan complained more generally about queue times, the demeanour of staff at immigration control and other parts of the airport.
“The walk to immigration was so long, I felt I was going to exit in the city centre!” they wrote.
“Look at other airports with proper lighting, carpeted floors, proper barriers, signs, presence of staff. Immigration police do not even look and say welcome; totally bored individuals.
“The baggage hall in Terminal 1 is well past its best. The restaurant area on the upper floor of Terminal 1 is a disgrace.”
In a statement to The Journal, DAA’s Media Relations Manager Graeme McQueen said that three out of every four passengers passing through the airport’s security in June got through in less than 30 minutes, with 93% getting through in less than 45 minutes.
He also said that the number of security screening staff available to the airport was now back to 2019 levels, nd with up to 80 more set to be hired during July.
“While other airports around Europe and the UK have opted to cancel hundreds of flights each day in order to cope with the challenges resulting from the high demand for international travel, Dublin Airport has avoided such actions,” McQueen said.
“Whilst many thousands of families in the UK and other European countries have seen their summer holidays wiped out by flight cancellations, the hard work of our staff, combined with the rollout of effective contingency plans at Dublin Airport, is ensuring that Irish families are getting away this summer.
“Any flight cancellations to date have been the result of decisions made entirely by the airlines themselves.”
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