Enhanced background check is causing hiring delays for airports

People who work at airports including those employed by businesses such as food and beverage outlets are subject to rigorous vetting since January 1. File picture

A new enhanced background check system is causing hiring delays for Irish airports and airlines ahead of the busy summer season, a response to a parliamentary question has revealed.

As of January 1 this year, a new enhanced background check (EBC) process has been required in advance of the issue of airport identification cards under EU aviation security laws.

Staff of both airlines and airports — including food and beverage outlets, ground handling companies, and fuelling companies — have to go through the new enhanced background checks.

Sources said that the airline community has been raising concerns in recent days that there is a high number of applicants already in the system to be processed in advance of the start of the busy summer season, which kicks off at the end of March.

In a parliamentary question to Transport Minister Eamon Ryan, his Green Party colleague, junior minister Joe O'Brien asked if Mr Ryan was aware of "the delays that businesses in Dublin Airport are experiencing with the new enhanced background checking system and the impact that this is having on their ability to successfully recruit new staff".

A statement from DAA, which runs Dublin and Cork airports, said that the enhanced checks are leading to longer waits for staff clearance across all airports due to the enhanced nature of the checks.

"Since January 1st 2022 a new European Union aviation security requirement on background checks for aviation applications came into effect. In Ireland, all regulated airports and airlines are required to meet these enhanced background rules, which are processed through An Garda Siochána. As a result of the new background checks, all regulated airports and airlines are experiencing longer wait times for this process to conclude given its enhanced nature."

An Garda Síochána has said that 2,730 applications for clearance were received from the DAA since the start of the year and 2,138 have completed the stage one standard background check. However, gardaí said that an “Enhanced Background Check” is a further security check and is carried out through the Security Vetting Unit within the Garda National Crime & Security Intelligence Service (GNCSIS): 

It is not possible to give indicative turnaround times on “Enhanced Background Checks” as each case is individual and depends on a range of variable factors including on whether the applicant has resided outside the state or not, and in how many countries or addresses an applicant may have resided at. 

An Garda Síochána said it is "committed to ensuring that sufficient resources are in place at both the GNVB [Garda National Vetting Bureau] and GNCSIS to process applications".

In response to Mr O'Brien's question, junior transport minister Hildegarde Naughton said that the new set of rules "adds a security intelligence check to the existing requirement for a criminal history check" and are carried out by the employer and gardaí.