Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister said there was a significant political intervention in March and April, when these problems emerged. I have to tell him, that intervention did not succeed in its purpose and Sunday showed us the evidence of that. The airport is still operating understaffed, at 70% of its pre-Covid strength. The management of the Dublin Airport Authority, it seems to me, grossly misjudged what the capacity requirements would be as travel reopened, as was always going to be the case.

I must say I do not hear anything from the Minister, as a Minister in government, that would reassure me or reassure the public that in fact the airport authority or the Government have got on top of this issue. I ask the Minister again to perhaps be more categoric and reassuring for the public. Will he tell us we are not going to face scenes such as those we saw on Sunday again? Is he satisfied that is the case? Is he satisfied the airport authority can and will mobilise the required numbers of staff, including full use of overtime, over the coming bank holiday weekend?

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