Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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We have seen complete chaos at Dublin Airport in recent months. On 29 May, more than 1,000 passengers missed their flights. That chaos flows directly from the actions of the management of Dublin Airport Authority, DAA, two years ago. It chose to slash staff numbers and drive wages and conditions down taking advantage of the pandemic to drive through a shock doctrine. That is what it did. We have been warning about this from the moment it happened. However, the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, would not listen. He knew that the DAA, while receiving huge amounts of public funding during the pandemic, was using the pandemic as an excuse to cut directly employed, unionised workers and replace them with workers on low wages and poor contracts. The Government allowed the DAA to get away with that. When the DAA announced plans to sack hundreds of workers, I spoke out multiple times in the Dáil and warned that it would be disastrous. I talked to many workers in the DAA who told me that it would be a disaster. They also told me of the terror tactics that were being used by the company to drive people out. Real fear was put into workers by telling them they had the option of voluntary severance, a career break of up to five years, reduced hours or, alternatively, remaining in their jobs and agreeing so-called new ways of working that involved big changes in terms of contracts, roles and a threat of pay reductions of up to 60%. It was clear, and we warned at the time, that these workers would be needed again in the future but the DAA, being run on a commercial basis by a guy on close to €400,000 a year, including pension entitlements, was focused on getting rid of unionised, directly employed workers and replacing them with contracted agency staff on lower wages and less favourable conditions.

In regard to security workers, the DAA got rid of 248 workers out of a pre-pandemic total search and security workforce of 858. Close to a quarter of the total workforce was let go. That is why we are in the current crisis in terms of the massive queues. The crisis in regard to cleaning the airport is the consequence of a similar approach. The DAA has been advertising to hire new security staff who must be available 40 hours a week but who are only guaranteed 20 hours' work a week on a salary of €14.14 an hour. The weekly salary for 20 hours' work at that rate amounts to just €283. The company has not been able to get the staff on that basis, and the result is the disaster we have seen.

The Government's answer is to send in the Army. This is papering over the problems that are consequences of the DAA's decisions. It is a short-term approach that could temporarily deal with the issues but at the cost of long-term problems. The issue is the poor wages and conditions offered by the DAA and the need to have more directly employed, full-time security staff. In effect it is a further attack on workers. The Government, which stood by and let DAA put profit before workers and the efficient operation of the airport, is planning to compound that attack by allowing the Army to do the work that directly employed workers had done prior to, in effect, being made redundant. It is ironic that the Government's response to problems caused by low pay and poor conditions is to bring in other workers on low pay and with poor conditions. Some 85% of Irish Defence Forces personnel earn less than the average industrial wage. It adds insult to injury. I welcome the reports that security staff at Dublin Airport are warning that they will resist attempts to use the Army at the airport. I offer them our full support.

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I welcome the opportunity to update the House on this topic. As Deputies are aware, the Government last week supported a request for members of the Defence Forces to undergo appropriate training and certification to enable them to be on standby to assist the DAA with security activities at Dublin Airport, if required, over the coming peak summer weeks. Putting this emergency contingency measure in place does not mean that members of the Defence Forces will automatically be deployed to the airport. Instead, they will be ready for deployment if required by the DAA. This decision comes on foot of a proposal from the DAA for the potential deployment of the Defence Forces as a prudent step primarily because of the risk of the resurgence of Covid-19 and the effect that could have on its staff and the operations at this exceptionally busy time. During the Omicron wave in early 2022, more than one in four Dublin Airport security staff were absent. Given the high numbers going through the airport every day any recurrence of such high absence levels could have a significant impact on the airport’s continued ability to process passengers through security.

The programme for Government acknowledges the value of aviation in supporting economic development, international connectivity and tourism via our airports. In view of this the Government is committed to do what is necessary to ensure that flights do not need to be cancelled at Dublin Airport, as has been the case at other European airports, and that passengers have the assurance that they will not miss their holidays or other travel arrangements where they arrive at the airport within the advised timeframes.

On foot of the Government decision, the Defence Forces will be available on standby from this week for a defined period over the peak summer months. This is a short-term emergency-related contingency measure to protect passengers’ travel arrangements as well as to avoid reputational damage to Ireland’s aviation sector. Training and certification of the Defence Forces will be appropriate to the assigned aviation security tasks but will take account of the existing training and skills of Defence Force personnel. If deployed, members of the Defence Forces will be involved in specific, non-public-facing roles, relieving DAA staff for security and screening duties in the main terminals. In the event of significant staff shortages due to Covid-19 it is envisaged that the Defence Forces personnel could be deployed to operate the external gate posts into the security-restricted area of Dublin Airport, thereby potentially freeing up approximately 100 staff who could be deployed to the main terminals. The exact number of Defence Force personnel who will be trained and available to undertake these roles is being finalised. It is expected that 130 personnel will be involved.

As this is purely a contingency measure, while members of the Defence Forces will be deployed, they will only be deployed to Dublin Airport if requested by the DAA and in a scenario where there is a significant deterioration in passenger queuing times, with a risk of large numbers of passengers missing their flights.

Regarding longer-term security resourcing at Dublin Airport, I reassure Deputies that this emergency measure will not take away from the DAA's plans for the recruitment and training of additional security staff. The DAA is continuing in this regard, with the expectation that optimal staffing levels will be realised by August. The DAA has advised that, by that time, 480 new security staff will have commenced employment at the airport since October 2021. As a precautionary measure, particularly in the context of the ongoing uncertainty regarding the impact of Covid-19 on the availability of staff, this level of resourcing includes additional staff over and above the 2019 staffing levels. Passenger numbers at Dublin Airport are now at over 90% of the 2019 levels, and it is expected that approximately 50,000 people will travel through Dublin Airport every day during the coming peak period. The DAA's ongoing recruitment campaign, supported by this emergency contingency measure, will ensure that passengers can travel safely through Dublin Airport over the busy summer period ahead.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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Has the Government learned any lessons from this situation? Does it acknowledge that it was a mistake not to oppose the DAA slashing the terms and conditions of workers, slashing the numbers of workers and using the pandemic in the way that it did? Has the Government investigated why we have this shortage of staff? Why is it that the DAA cannot recruit the security staff it needs? Why does the Government think that the company will be able to have 480 new security staff in place? From talking to workers, the answer seems to be very simple. It will be found to be very difficult to recruit workers with a requirement for them to be available to work for up to 40 hours a week, while they may actually only get 20 hours a week at a rate of €14 an hour. It is not possible to make a life on that basis. It will not be possible for people to commit to pay a mortgage or for childcare, and particularly so in the context of the cost-of-living crisis. That is not an attractive prospect for workers.

The problem with the Government’s approach in respect of sending in the Army personnel, who are also low-paid workers, is that it is letting the DAA away with what it is doing and with not addressing the central issue here. This is that the company used the pandemic to attack wages and conditions. It is not now able to attract staff and will still not be able to do so unless it offers decent terms and conditions. Will the Government be asking the DAA to ensure that people will be guaranteed 40 hours a week to enable them to build a life around that? Will the Government be asking the DAA to restore decent pay and conditions? Will the Government be opposing the attempts by the DAA, and we are also hearing news in this context about Aer Lingus, in respect of plans to freeze workers’ pay for five years? Right throughout the aviation industry we have seen attempts to use the pandemic to undermine the terms and conditions of workers. This has been negatively affecting not only the workers, but society at large, in respect of everybody who has been attempting to go on holidays, etc.

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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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.