Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The DAA has major obligations as an employer. It now has a duty to ensure that it reaches a full staffing complement in order to ensure the safe and efficient running of Dublin Airport and Cork Airport, which also comes under the remit of the DAA. That is why it is in the process of a significant recruitment campaign, which has attracted a lot of interest. It has offered existing security staff contracts with a minimum of 30 hours per week. The contract requires staff to be available to work 40 hours across a 24-7 roster, with employees notified 30 days in advance of their next four-week schedules. In reality, most staff work more than the guaranteed minimum hours, and overtime is available. Permanent security staff are employed on a pensionable and secure basis, and all the DAA arrangements are collectively bargained for.

On the Deputy's wider point in respect of pay, there are, as she knows, negotiations under way on public pay in Ireland. That will impact on 365,000 public servants across the country. I hope we will be able to reach a successful conclusion on that matter in the next short number of weeks. That is important not only from a public expenditure and an industrial relations point of view but also from the point of view of the thousands of workers who provide essential services to us all.

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