Dublin Airport Authority is to carry out an immediate review of its facilities and resources for processing passengers through security checks following serious delays for passengers at the terminal yesterday.
At one stage passengers faced queues of over an hour and a half to get through security, where procedures have been enhanced following the exposure of major lapses in an EU audit last week.
As queues of several hundred people looped around the building, staff closed the departure terminal for a time to all but intending passengers. Several passengers missed flights as a result of the lengthy security delays.
A spokesman for the Dublin Airport Authority said the delays were caused by a combination of the increased amount of time involved for passengers to be processed, as well as an increase in the numbers travelling at the start of the summer season.
Airport staff have increased the frequency of random checks on passengers' baggage, clothing and footwear in the wake of the lapses exposed in the security audit. It emerged last week that officials from the European Civil Aviation Conference and the Department of Transport had managed to carry a replica bomb and knives through security.
Some passengers were required to remove their shoes, belts and some jewellery under the security measures.
Airport sources said that "while a specific ratio of passengers had always been asked to undergo random security checks that the frequency of such examinations had increased considerably" following last week's audit.
There are 11 security channels for passengers and one for staff at the airport. Not all of these were open yesterday morning when the queues began to develop.
However, a spokesman for Dublin Airport Authority said that all channels, including the staff facility, were quickly brought into service and that the maximum number of staff available - including management personnel who were called in - were deployed to deal with the backlog.
"We are reviewing the level of resources available to deal with the issue of processing passengers through security," the spokesman said.
Dublin Airport Authority is training an additional 60 staff and the spokesman said that it hoped that these would come on stream in the near future.
However, airport sources said there were limits on the numbers of additional security channels that could be provided given the nature of the building. Sources said that plans for a new pier at Dublin airport would not provide any more security channels either.
The spokesman for Dublin Airport Authority urged passengers to arrive at least 90 minutes before their flight, to carry only one bag and not to have items which would require "additional checks".
The Department of Transport has indicated it will closely monitor the operation of airline check-in desks at Dublin Airport to determine if they are contributing to the lengthy queues for security examinations. "The Department will be keeping a close eye on this situation. If passengers are being asked to arrive early we cannot have a situation where the airline desks are not open for them to check-in", one source in the Department said last night.
