Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Regarding pay and conditions, these are matters for the DAA to address directly with the trade unions. When we look at what the CEO said to the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications several weeks ago regarding the projections concerning aviation passenger numbers, if he knew then what he knows now regarding the pickup in the numbers of passengers travelling, then he would have made different decisions.

Additionally, since the removal of Covid-19-related travel restrictions in March 2022, there has been a significant recovery in aviation passenger numbers throughout Europe. Between January and June 2022, passenger numbers at Dublin Airport have increased from approximately 200,000 per week to almost 650,000 per week, which represents a 220% increase in passenger traffic over five months. As of last week, the airport has been processing almost 90% of 2019 passenger levels. While welcome, the pace of recovery is proving to be extremely challenging operationally for the aviation industry. Industry forecasts had predicted that this level of recovery would not occur until 2024 or 2025. I reiterate, however, that the Government is committed to doing what is necessary to ensure that passengers' expectations are met in the coming weeks and that they do not miss flights due to security queues at Dublin Airport.

As part of the planning of any potential deployment of the members of the Defence Forces, a service level agreement will be agreed between the Department of Defence and the DAA. The envisaged remit of the deployment is for non-public-facing security gate duties, to free up approximately 100 existing DAA personnel for a proposed six-week timeframe. The DAA will pay the Department of Defence the entire and related costs of this service provision, including costs for salaries, training, certification and management, as well as the costs associated with having the Defence Forces personnel on standby. I also assure Deputies that the full details of this agreement are currently being worked out between the Department of Defence, the Defence Forces and the DAA.

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