John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I also wrote to the CEO of the Irish Aviation Authority, IAA. I had also written to the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, in his capacity as the Minister over the Revenue Commissioners but he responded to state that this area is very much the responsibility of the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Ross. My Topical Issue matter concerns the proposed removal of security screening derogation for customs officers stationed at Dublin Airport, and other customs-approved national airports, with effect from 30 January, which is next week. I need the assistance of the Minister in this because he may not be fully apprised of some of the issues concerned.

In his reply to my parliamentary question which was provided pretty speedily on 16 January the Minister stated that:

The enhanced procedures the Deputy asks about were decided by my Department and adopted by the National Civil Aviation Security Committee on the basis of a risk assessment by the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA), which has responsibility for regulating aviation security in Ireland.

The Minister further stated that a "number of reviews and-or audits of security practices and procedures at the State airports pointed to the need to make [more] improvements". Has the Minister read those reports? Can he confirm to the House whether customs enforcement officers employed by the State were ever identified in any of those reports as a risk to the security of the national airports?

I ask that because I advise the House that I have been reliably informed that customers officers, who are part of a law enforcement agency of this State, have not and never have been identified as a risk to aviation security in any IAA report, nor in the 2015 national aviation policy nor in the 2017 security audit review at Dublin Airport. I would like the Minister to respond to those points specifically. In his reply to my parliamentary question, the Minister also quoted from Regulation (EC) No. 300/2008 that:

All persons other than passengers, together with their items carried, shall be screened upon entering critical parts of security restricted areas in order to prevent prohibited articles from being introduced into these parts.

Does the Minister and his Department intend to implement this regulation fully to include all law enforcement agencies, including Customs and Excise, An Garda Síochána, the Airport Police and the Defence Forces? I ask that because that is not what is intended to apply from next week. Is the Minister aware that all law enforcement officers, including customs officers, currently comply fully with all European Union and IAA regulations?

In 2018, the Dublin Airport Authority, DAA, confirmed that its traffic from the UK had increased to almost 10.1 million passengers. The impact of Brexit now means that an additional 10.1 million passengers will potentially, from the end of March, become third country passengers, thus increasing the burden of EU customs controls for passenger traffic at Irish airports and at Dublin Airport in particular. In that situation, why would the Minister impose such security measures in the midst of Brexit when customs enforcement officers will be entering into possibly one of the busiest periods in recent times and again with no aviation security risk attached to them?

To summarise, in the absence of any identifiable risk to aviation security by customs officers, I request an immediate deferral of the implementation date of 30 January 2019, pending further clarification as to the level of the associated risk. That is because the work carried out by customs enforcement officers is not confined solely to airside operations. Customs officers have to move between airside and landside in the airports throughout the course of their shift on any given day and sometimes multiple times. The implementation of these changes will impose further impediments on customs officers carrying out their duties on behalf of the State.

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