‘Small army’ of Dublin Airport staff redeployed to tackle queues

Dublin Airport has redeployed a "small army" of staff from desk jobs elsewhere in the company to help tackle lengthy queues at airport security for departing passengers, which sparked strong criticism last week.

Queues to clear security, which might normally take 30 minutes, took upwards of three hours last weekend, prompting warnings to passengers to arrive several hours before their flights were due to depart.

The DAA, which operates Dublin Airport, has redeployed staff from desk jobs in the semi-State company to pick up four-hour shifts helping security.

The extra staff have been put to work managing and filtering queues, preparing and returning trays for the X-ray machines, advising passengers and answering queries.

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On Sunday afternoon, staff working in various roles including IT, communications, research and regulatory compliance gathered for a briefing before being sent out to the frontline.

Among the group was Ceadhla Newman, a 24-year-old who normally works as a research co-ordinator in the airport. “I’ve done this at certain peak times before – it would be loading trays, talking to passengers. Whatever you can do to help out, whatever you can do to ease the stress security are under,” she told The Irish Times.

Dermot Casey (34), a regulatory manager for the DAA, spent Friday morning helping to direct queues and was preparing for a similar shift on Sunday.

On Friday his job was to keep the queue moving “as quick as possible” by getting people prepared, such as reminding them to take off their belts, he said.

“It was very, very busy, we were really under pressure, but things were moving,” he said.

Val Singleton, an operations manager briefing the staff, said the additional help had made a “huge difference” in recent days. “It’s about all pulling together for the company to support our colleagues in security,” she said.

The lengthy waiting times of several hours were an “anomaly” at Dublin Airport, which she said prided itself on efficiency. The response had been to get “all hands on deck” until the problem was sorted, she said.

Waiting times to get through security in Terminal 1 peaked at 44 minutes in the early hours of Sunday, a significant reduction on the hours-long queues seen the previous weekend.

For passengers, the sight of a quickly moving queue was a welcome one. Sam Henderson, a 30-year-old from Blanchardstown, west Dublin, was flying home to Germany where he has lived for the past seven years.

Back in Ireland for a stag party with a group of friends from Germany, he said he had been “freaking out” over pictures of the airport queues on social media last week. “I’m normally the type of person that shows up an hour before the flight,” he said.

The group arrived at the airport roughly three hours before their flight on Sunday to be “extra cautious”, he said. “I’m happy now, I think my hangover is cured now I’ve seen the queue is moving quickly,” he said.

A spokesman for the DAA said the “small army” of staff from other areas, including workers from Cork Airport, had improved waiting times.

The redeployment of staff started on Thursday and meant the airport had fared “far better” this weekend, he said. “We let ourselves down and the country down last weekend,” the spokesman said.

Despite the extra help, the DAA is bracing for a busy Easter period, while it tries to hire extra security staff as a matter of urgency.