Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I am happy to comment on that. The Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, and I had an in-person meeting with the board of Dublin Airport yesterday, which was useful. We have effectively been having daily meetings. The airport has got through a difficult period, with passenger numbers in the low 50,000s. In recent weeks, 94% of passengers have been getting through airport security in less than 45 minutes. That is the broad benchmark. It is not satisfactory, and we want everyone flying through security quickly, but compared with what happened at the end of May or what is happening in other European airports where there are widespread cancellations, not because of Covid, but because of airports not being able to cope, Dublin Airport should be able to work its way through this busy period.

There have been significant cancellations by some of the airlines because of Covid. The airport is not responsible for that. It has not seen a surge in absenteeism due to Covid. If it does, the Army is on standby and will be deployed straight away. That will not be initiated unless there is a specific need, but I told the board yesterday not to hesitate and to apply straight away, at which point we would respond immediately as needs be.