Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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645. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the estimated full-year costs that would be needed to ensure his Department officials are present at Dublin Airport between the hours of 7am-10.30pm, seven days a week. [56741/25]

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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My Department has a presence in Dublin Airport, both at the border control post (BCP) performing sanitary and phytosanitary controls on consignments imported into the EU through Dublin Airport and in the arrivals hall in Terminals 1 and 2 where compliance checks on pets arriving into Ireland and inspection of passenger baggage for personal consignments of food or plants are performed. Currently the BCP operates from 7am to 6pm, Monday to Friday and from 9am to 1pm on Saturdays. My Department are present in the arrivals halls of the terminals from 7am to 9pm, seven days per week.

The estimated costs of extending the hours of service from those currently in operation to 7am to 10.30 pm, seven days a week is €1.58m approximately. Please note that this is based on the assumption that the extended hours would apply to my Department's presence in the arrivals hall. The calculated cost is based on the current allocation of staff and the estimated additional resources required.

I am satisfied that the current opening hours are sufficient to meet the existing demand.