Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

To put things in context, since early May I have taken four flights out of the country and returned.

I want to put it on record the fact that the experience from the worst time to the best time has been much better in Ireland than in other parts of Europe. I also want to put on record the work of the DAA. I am absolutely blown away by how quickly the DAA has dealt with the problems and queues for getting through security. My experience the first time was such that I had to wait about two and half hours to get through fast track and through security and last Saturday, 16 July, I went through fast track in 15 minutes and left myself sitting in the airport for three and half hours as a result so the DAA is doing a great job. However, and there is always an "however", a great job has been done on security but the cleanliness is diabolical in every corner of the airport and something must be done. The food situation is also diabolical and something must be done. I understand that with the massive numbers of people arriving early and hanging around the airport that these are challenging areas for the organisation but I know that the DAA will step up to the plate. At the worst of times my experience of Dublin Airport was comparable with what I experienced in London and at Berlin airport in Germany.

I wish to say to all of the delegations that the interaction with staff has been amazing. All staff have been under huge pressure yet I have never been met with anything but good humour and people willing to push themselves the extra bit both on the ground and in the air. I compliment all the people involved.

I do not have a huge number of dealings with baggage staff other than I get back any baggage that I did put in, which is the important thing for me. I will deal with the issue in a couple of minutes.

I assume that the DAA will bring in somebody to deal with the cleaning and food issues. I appreciate that people must deal with very large numbers but the DAA must do something.