Dublin Airport: Concern raised that there is no legal requirement for reimbursements
Members of the public queuing at Dublin Airport on Monday. Picture: Gareth Chaney/ Collins Photos
Dublin Airport is to be hit with more than 1,000 compensation claims from passengers who missed flights, with Taoiseach Micheál Martin warning that the chaotic scenes cannot be repeated over the June bank holiday weekend.
Airport bosses have been told to come up with solutions by today, Tuesday, amid fears of another travel fiasco this weekend.
Thousands of passengers were forced to queue outside the terminal and waited for over four hours to check in on Sunday, with more than 1,000 people missing flights.
Staff shortages have been blamed for the delays but the minister of state for transport, Hildegarde Naughton, insisted there was no warning that passengers would face such delays when she met airport management last Thursday.
Daa, which operates the airport, said passengers who missed flights will be compensated “within days” of making a claim, but consumer bodies have raised concern that there is no legal requirement for reimbursements.
It is unclear how other costs — such as car rental, follow-on flights, meals, and tickets for missed sporting or entertainment events — will be covered, with airport bosses merely saying “reasonable out-of-pocket expenses” will be reimbursed.
Michael Kilcoyne, chairman of the Consumers’ Association of Ireland, said there is no legislation underpinning reimbursements and that passengers should keep receipts.
It was believed passengers would have to provide proof of how long they were in queues, such as screenshots or parking tickets, but Government sources said they are hopeful this will not be the case.
Ms Naughton and Transport Minister Eamon Ryan and will be presented with a plan from airport bosses on Tuesday for the bank holiday weekend ahead.
They met with Daa chief executive Dalton Phillips on Monday, with Government sources saying there is “considerable anger” about the embarrassment caused by the missed flights.
Mr Martin said: “It is unacceptable what has happened, it’s not good enough, and people should not be treated in that way.
"There will be daily meetings between the Department of Transport now and the Daa."
The Government is looking for a very clear plan to ensure that this type of thing doesn’t happen again and that whatever has to be done now is done to improve the operational efficiency of Dublin Airport.”
Asked if the army should be deployed to help address the shortfall in security staff, Mr Martin said: “I think it’s a question that the Daa needs to develop the capacity very, very quickly to deal with this. The answer lies within human resource management within Daa and planning within the organisation.”
Mr Ryan described the delays as a terrible failing, adding that “they have to address it, it’s an operational issue for the airport”.
While Dublin Airport said more than 1,000 people missed flights, Ryanair chief executive Eddie Wilson indicated around 1,500 passengers missed flights with his airline alone, some of whom reported being at Dublin Airport up to five hours early.
Graeme McQueen, media relations manager for the airport, said the issue is one of staffing, following voluntary redundancies during the pandemic.
“We’re working very hard to rectify that, trying to get new security staff on board,” he said.
“That process obviously takes quite a long time because of the training that’s required for these jobs, so we’re looking to see what we can put in place for this weekend. We’ll be seeing up to 100,000 passengers each day this weekend; we’re looking to assure the minister that we can cope with those numbers.”
Daa officials will be further grilled on the delays when they appear before an Oireachtas committee on Wednesday.
Former Minister for Transport, Shane Ross, has warned that a "calm" bank holiday weekend with a steady flow of passengers isn't enough to prevent the "sensational" reputational damage caused to Dublin Airport following the stranding of a thousand passengers onsite last weekend.
In an interview on , Mr Ross said that he despairs when the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) reassures the public that "it will be better next weekend."
He believes that the there is a "culture of complacency" in the DAA that ties in with it being run like "an empire."
"I wouldn't think that a calm weekend would be enough (to prevent reputational damage). It is absolutely appalling.
"I think we have a fundamental problem that hasn't been recognised yet. The DAA is a State monopoly. It operates under conditions which it shouldn't be operating under. I don't have any confidence (In the DAA). When I was a Minister I didn't have any confidence in them really."
Mr Ross says that he worries that there is a "lack of accountability" about what occurred at the airport last weekend.
"The DAA is reassuring people that 'we are accountable. That there is a penalty.' That they can be fined. But financial penalties by the State on the State are a bit of a farce quite honestly.
"They can find the millions. But who is paying the penalty except the tax payer?
"It is kind of a bit of an empire the DAA and always has been. Because it is a State monopoly," he said.
Mr Ross also said the Government should look at the structure of the Daa and the way it is run.
"The Government should look at it and say 'is there something fundamentally wrong with the way it is run?' There aren't very many state monopolies without any competition left."
On the same programme, Chief Executive of the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation, Eoghan O'Mara, said that given Dublin is the main tourism gateway to Ireland the situation is extremely worrying.
"Even tourists to the Wild Atlantic Way access the country primarily through Dublin. Access is critical for an island nation as you can imagine. So scenes like last weekend simply aren't acceptable," he said.
"What we are looking for today is a really robust plan from DAA for how this weekend can be managed and for particularly how the busy summer months can be managed."
He said the DAA had done "pretty well" to manage the increase in aviation in recent times but in peak times the airport really struggled.
"If it (disruption of last weekend) is an isolated event I think we will be fine. So that is why the plan that the DAA are presenting today is very important. That it shows that there is a road map to how they can ease the crisis," he added.
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