Irish Examiner view: Bringing in the troops a prudent plan to avoid airport chaos

Defence Forces 'on standby' to assist Daa with security duties

Queues at Dublin Airport in June. Picture: Gareth Chaney/ Collins Photos

When it was first mooted that the Defence Forces might be called in to assist with security logjams at Dublin Airport back in April, the suggestion garnered a dusty response from some quarters.

Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary thought it was a good idea (he thinks the same military solution would be beneficial at Heathrow). Others were less enthused.

Defence Minister Simon Coveney maintained that soldiers had better things to be doing with their time. And in normal circumstances he would be correct, given that he is also on the record as saying that there have been longstanding capacity issues in Ireland’s armed forces and that he wants a significant increase in resources for them.

A less convincing argument was adduced by Daa, which operates Dublin and Cork airports, which said working in security was “too technical” and that it took a minimum of five to six weeks to train staff to the required levels of competence. Simply “bringing in bodies to do a job isn’t enough”, a spokesperson said.

This didn’t sound credible then — part of being a soldier, after all, involves finding rapid solutions to problems, under pressure, through collaborative action — and now it has been set aside at the request of Transport Minister Eamon Ryan, to allow troops in to assist Daa with security duties.

The problems of the airport authority — letting too many experienced staff go through the mechanism of an over-ambitious redundancy plan — have been well catalogued, and this failure of human resources and manpower planning will not be changed by retrospective teeth-grinding, though it will make a good case study for business schools of the future.

With the shadow of increased Covid-related absences looming over summer, the agreement is in place from July 6 to August 15, which is the busiest spell at the airport. Daa says its staffing levels will increase by 480 by the end of July.

It is a matter of prudence, says the authority. Well, precisely.