The Finance Minister still has confidence in Dublin Airport management, despite the ‘unacceptable’ queuing chaos over the weekend.

Airport operator DAA says up to 1,000 passengers missed their flights on Sunday as huge queues left people waiting hours before even entering the terminal buildings.

In a meting with the Transport Minister Eamon Ryan this morning, DAA outlined its plans for easing the queues in the coming days and weeks.

The state company is due to publish the plans within 24 hours.

On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said the company must do everything it can to avoid a repeat of Sunday.

“What happened over this weekend has been unacceptable,” he said.

“Dublin Airport is normally a jewel in our crown when it comes to managing access and the transport of tens of millions of people in and out of our country each year.

“This weekend, it took a real step backwards and we expect the management in DAA to quickly put in place plans that will make a big difference.”

Confidence

He said he still has confidence in DAA management noting that they have been successful in ‘managing the growth of Dublin Airport over many years’ up to now.

He said he was showing the company a yellow card, rather than a red, “for now”.

“Nothing can explain or justify what has happened over the last number of days,” he said. “It must improve the Government expects that it will improve.”

Strategy

In the meeting with Minister Ryan this morning, DAA said its strategy for managing the queues in the coming weeks would involve three strands:

• Improving queue management
• Maximise the availability of staffing resources
• Increasing the number of security lanes at peak times

The airport managers also set out how they plan to compensate passengers who have missed flights due to the long queues.

The Government has asked DAA to “clearly communicate” the plan to passengers within the next 24 hours to ensure a smoother experience this bank holiday weekend.

Pandemic

Minister Donohoe said airports all over the world are experiencing staffing difficulties and said it was “understandable” that DAA let staff go while airports were empty during the pandemic.

“While I think it is important to acknowledge the context of what has happened in aviation over the last number of years and what has happened in our airports, my core point is still that what has happened over the last number of days is unacceptable,” he said.

“Even if some challenges are being experienced by the sector, any airport, particularly one as sophisticated as Dublin Airport, does have many indicators to allow it to know what kind of demand is going to be happening days, weeks and months ahead.”

He noted that: “While there are some factors that can explain it, nothing justifies it and that is why in the days that are ahead it has to be fixed.”

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