Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy knows, the Dublin Airport Authority, DAA, has statutory responsibility to operate and manage Dublin Airport, including all the operations associated with security screening. I welcome the fact that as we speak the chief executive is up before the Committee on Transport and Communications and a lot of those issues might be teased out there. Dublin Airport is a regulated entity and the Commission for Aviation Regulation is an independent regulator for charges at the airport. It also sets out a comprehensive range of quality standard targets, including on security times, to ensure a high quality service for passengers at the airport. The passenger experience at Dublin Airport is falling so far short of the service that our citizens, tourists or visitors should expect at our largest State airport. The Government recognises the undue stress that these unacceptable delays are having on passengers.

As the Deputy knows, ministerial level meetings have been held since the security delay issues first emerged at the end of March and I know that the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and the Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Deputy Naughton, met the authority earlier this week. They have requested that the DAA report back within 24 hours on solutions that can be put in place as we approach a bank holiday weekend, which is a pinch factor. Up until last weekend queue times had improved on those experienced by passengers at the end of March, with over 90% of passengers getting through security in less than 45 minutes but what we saw last weekend is not acceptable. As the Deputy said, it has a real risk of doing severe reputational damage to our tourism. I have written to the chief executive of the DAA to express my concern and I hope that the recent engagement with the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, will see immediate solutions put in place because we need that to happen. I am waiting to welcome with open arms the assurances of the smooth operation of Dublin Airport because that is key, as the Deputy has said. What people are seeing on social media and in our newspapers risks doing huge reputational damage to us.