There was the familiar sound of stable doors being shut at Dublin Airport yesterday after a £100,000 bank raid exposed existing security arrangements as wholly inadequate. Aer Rianta says it will now review security as a matter of urgency; a similar review by the Garda is also in train. In truth, the circumstances of this robbery would be embarrassing for the proprietors of a corner shop in a sleepy village, let alone those responsible for security at this State's main international airport. From what is known, it appears that three raiders were able to drive into the departures area at around 6 am yesterday, block the road and reverse a stolen BMW car into a glass window of the Bank of Ireland branch. In the course of the robbery they brandished a firearm at a taxi-man, grabbed his car keys and fled with bags of cash, down the wrong side of a ramp. They drove easily around a security barrier and sped away even though a security officer had activated an alarm. On RTE radio's News at One yesterday the unfortunate taxi-man reported how he cast around for some kind of security presence for some minutes after the assault. He wondered what those who might normally be on security duties around the departures terminal were doing by way of response.
It is not an unreasonable question. Until yesterday, the average citizen might have assumed that the Bank of Ireland branch at Dublin Airport was one of the most secure in the State. Until yesterday the naive assumption might have been that Dublin Airport was policed with armed detectives, augmented by the airport police, monitoring various movements.
As the news report in today's editions makes clear, Dublin Airport is nothing like the fortress one might imagine. The men involved in yesterday's robbery would have driven into the airport without encountering any substantial security presence; the unarmed airport police are Aer Rianta rather than Garda personnel while a team of armed detectives from Santry Garda station some miles away monitor the airport. Asked about the whereabouts of this unit yesterday a Garda spokesman said that this was an operational matter.
In some respects, yesterday's events at Dublin Airport are a throwback to a decade and more ago when armed robberies like this were commonplace. Since then, great progress has been made by the Garda in targeting the major criminals and by the banks in providing sensible and overdue security measures. Yesterday's robbery appears to suggest a dangerous relapse into the old complacency. This is entirely out of place in an era of professional and ruthless criminality. It should not be allowed to recur at Dublin Airport. A dedicated armed presence is now a routine part of the security presence at every major international airport. There is no reason why Dublin Airport should be any different.