Minister Ryan said that the situation was “totally unacceptable”.
Eamon Ryan has demanded that Dublin Airport Authority provides solutions to prevent a repeat of outrageous queues at Dublin Airport over the weekend.
“What happened yesterday in particular was totally unacceptable,” Ryan said.
“You can’t have 1,000 people missing their flights, you can’t have thousands of people queuing outside the terminal building.
“They acknowledged that, they accepted it was a terrible failing, and we have to address it and they have to address it.”
Ryan described the situation as an operational issue, and said that the airport is struggling to find skilled workers to work across the different sectors.
“We said that they have to deliver solutions, with a different range of options so what happened in Dublin Airport yesterday doesn’t happen again,” Ryan concluded.
One possible solution? Involving the armed forces, according to Ryanair CEO Eddie Wilson.
Wilson claimed that more than 1,500 Ryanair passengers alone missed their flights yesterday between queuing and those not showing up.
“What you have is, you don’t have enough staff, people not unreasonably then react to what they see on social media, they see queues and see people coming early for flights, and that makes a bad situation worse,” Wilson said on Today with Claire Byrne on RTÉ Radio 1.
“There’s a maximum of 15 lanes at security, but yesterday, I think there was only six of them open, and from what we know, there were staff no shows for that.
“We called for this last June with Eamon Ryan; you need to get the army in there.”
Wilson said that as the army already have security clearance, it would be quicker for them to be approved to work at security and in screening facilities.
“You’ve got a short-term problem. It’s not like hiring for a store or a factory. You need to get people who are security cleared. The army are security cleared already.
“It’s quite straightforward. This should have been done months ago.”
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
