Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

During the Hallowe'en break recently, I flew to London for a few days with my family. On the outbound leg from Shannon Airport, I found that the systems in place were fantastic. I felt very safe. Flying out of Shannon Airport one would feel confident that one does so in an environment that, as far as possible, is Covid free and safe. However, on the inbound leg of my journey from London Stansted, I encountered a problem and nearly every passenger in the queue behind me encountered the same problem. I ask the witnesses to respond to this because it is also possibly happening in Ireland. Basically, the issue arose when we went to the baggage screening machines. There are certain thresholds for liquids and airport security staff very often bin containers with liquids. I had a small bottle of hand sanitiser but it was taken from me. I accepted that because that is what happens at airports and it has been standard for years. However, I found that when I got beyond that point in the airport, I was not able to buy more hand sanitiser and there were only one or two locations in the whole concourse of the airport thereafter that had hand sanitiser. Has the threshold above which liquids are confiscated changed in any way? Are there any proposals to change it in light of the fact that hand sanitisers are carried by virtually all passengers now? My experience is that the systems are working very well in Irish airports but is there some way of ensuring the maximum amount of hand sanitiser is available beyond the security checkpoint?