Taoiseach denies Eamon Ryan 'asleep at the wheel' over Dublin Airport 'chaos'
Summer queues at Dublin Airport: Opposition say lessons should have been learned ahead of the busy Christmas season. Picture: Martha Brennan
Transport Minister Eamon Ryan “is fully awake” and not “asleep at the wheel” despite what the Opposition called the “chaos, distress, and delays” at Dublin Airport in recent days, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said.
Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald said Mr Ryan has failed to get to grips with the crisis.
Her comment was seen as a quip at Mr Ryan, who was seen to fall asleep in the Convention Centre back in 2020, in the early days of this government.
“We cannot shy away from the fact that once again, there has been a real failure to prepare Dublin Airport and not a word from Minister Ryan. Not a word from government. It seems that the lessons of the summer have gone unlearned,” Ms McDonald said.
“So once again, we see authorities scramble around rather than being prepared for a scenario that was entirely foreseeable and we have been here before.
"In the summer, the failure to plan at Dublin Airport brought chaos. And this situation, as you recall, spiralled out of control because Minister Ryan failed to get to grips with the crisis.
"And now it seems that Minister Ryan is asleep at the wheel again,” she added.
In response, Mr Martin said: “Could I reassure the deputy that Eamon Ryan is not asleep at the wheel and is very, very active.
"As a Cabinet colleague with the range of legislation and initiatives and strategic plans that Minister Ryan is bringing through in the last month at least I can definitely assure the house that he is anything but fast asleep at this particular juncture.”
Mr Martin was urged to have Mr Ryan make himself available to the Dáil but he replied that the agenda is busy this week and that he wouldn't be calling the transport minister in at 12.30am or 1am.
“That’s when he should be asleep,” he said.
Responding to criticism made in the Dáil today during Leader’s Question Time, daa Chairman Basil Geoghegan said: "Notwithstanding current sub-zero temperatures, Dublin Airport’s Winter Readiness Plans has meant that all runways and taxiways at Dublin Airport have remained open and fully operational throughout.
"Whilst flight cancellations and delays over recent days relate to difficulties encountered by individual airlines de-icing their own aircraft or airports being closed in the UK, the Taoiseach made an important point today about the need for winter resilience.
"Such operational resilience is ultimately reliant on ensuring an appropriate regulatory and financial framework that recognises the critical role Dublin and Cork airports play in the Irish economy and global connectivity."
Ms McDonald, Labour leader Ivana Bacik, and Independent TD Verona Murphy all wished Mr Martin well in what was his last Leaders’ Questions as Taoiseach.
Ms McDonald said: “This is it. Our last exchange and before I put my question, to which I have no doubt he will answer in full with a fully amplified answer, can I wish you and yours the very, very best for the future, whatever that might bring.”
The Taoiseach thanked her for her kind words and quipped: “Well, first of all, and this is a sort of an Elvis Presley moment coming on there. I'll miss you tonight or whatever.”
Ms Bacik took up the Elvis analogy in her well wishes saying “suspicious minds” have linked Mr Martin with a move to Foreign Affairs.
“Suspicious minds are suggesting that it might be in a new role as Foreign Affairs Minister you might be going to, so you might like to confirm or deny that,” she said.
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