Paul Murphy: Blames DAA cuts for Dublin Airport chaos

What we have seen over the last number of months is complete chaos at Dublin Airport. We have seen on the 29th of May over a thousand passengers miss their flights. And that chaos flows directly from the actions of the management of DAA two years ago. They chose to slash staff numbers, drive wages and conditions down, taking advantage of the pandemic to drive through a shock doctrine. That is what they did. We have been warning about this from the moment that it happened, but the Minister for Transport, Eamon Ryan, would not listen. The Minister knew that DAA was using the pandemic while receiving huge amounts of money in public funding during the pandemic. They were using the pandemic as an excuse to cut directly employed, unionised workers and replace them with workers on low wages and poor contracts into the future. And the Government allowed the DAA to get away with it. When the DAA announced plans to sack hundreds of workers, I spoke out multiple times in the Dáil about it, warning that it would be disastrous. I was talking to multiple workers in the DAA who told me that it would be a disaster, and they also told me of the terror tactics that were being pursued by the company to drive people out. Real fear was put into workers, telling them that they had the option of voluntary severance, a career break of up to five years or reduced hours, or alternatively remaining in their job, and agreeing so-called new ways of working, which involved big changes in terms of contracts, big changes in terms of their roles, and threat of reductions of pay of up to 60%. It was clear at the time, and we warned, that these workers would be needed again in the future. But DAA was focused, being run on a commercial basis, being run by a guy on close to 400,000 euros, including pension entitlements, they were focused on getting rid of unionised workers, directly employed workers, and replacing them with contracted agency staff in the future with lower wages and conditions. In terms of security workers, they got rid of 248 workers out of a total pre-pandemic search and security workforce of 858, so close to a quarter of the total workforce. That is why we are in the crisis that we are in now, in terms of the massive queues. You can look at the crises that we have in terms of cleaning the airport, which are a consequence of a similar approach. Then DAA has been advertising to hire new security staff. They must be available 40 hours a week, but are only guaranteed 20 hours a week, and with salaries of 14 euros, 14 cents an hour for a weekly salary on 20 hours of just 283 euros. They haven't been able to get the staff on that basis, and the result is the disaster that we have seen. But the answer now by the government is to send in the army. What this is, is papering over the problems that are a consequence of DAA's decisions. It is a short-term approach that could temporarily deal with the issues, but at the cost of long-term problems. The issue is the poor wages and conditions offered by DAA, and the need to have more directly employed full-time security staff. In effect, it is a further attack on workers. A government that stood by and let DAA put profit before workers, and the efficient operation of the airport, is now planning to compound that attack by allowing the army to do that work that directly employed workers had done before being made effectively redundant. It is, of course, ironic that the government's response to problems caused by low pay and poor conditions is to bring in other workers on low pay and poor conditions. 85% of Irish Defence Forces personnel earn less than the average industrial wage. It adds insult to injury. I welcome the reports that security staff at Dublin Airport are warning that they will resist attempts to use the army at the airport, and offer them our full support. I welcome the opportunity to update the House on this topic this morning. As members are aware, government last week supported a request for members of the Defence Forces to undergo appropriate training and certification to enable them to be on standby to assist the DAA with security activities at Dublin Airport, if required, over the coming peak summer weeks. Putting this emergency contingency measure in place does not mean that members of the Defence Forces will automatically be deployed to the airport. Instead, they will be ready for deployment, if required, by the DAA. This decision comes on foot of a proposal from the DAA for the potential deployment of the Defence Forces as a prudent step, primarily because of the risk of the resurgence of COVID-19 that that could have on its staff and the operations at this exceptionally busy time. During the last Omicron wave in early 2022, more than one in four Dublin Airport security staff were absent. Given the high numbers going through the airport every day, any recurrence of such high absence levels could have a significant impact on the airport's continued ability to process passengers through security. The Programme for Government acknowledges the value of aviation in supporting economic development, international connectivity and tourism via our airports. Given this, Government is committed to do what is necessary to ensure that flights do not need to be cancelled at Dublin Airport, as has been the case in other European airports, and that passengers have the assurance that they will not miss their holidays or other travel arrangements where they arrive at the airport within the advised timeframes. On foot of the Government decision, the Defence Forces will be available on standby from this week for a defined period over the peak summer period. This is a short-term emergency related contingency measure to protect passengers' travel arrangements as well as to avoid reputational damage to Ireland's aviation sector. Training and certification of the Defence Forces will be appropriate to the assigned aviation security tasks that will take account of the existing training and skills of Defence Force personnel. If deployed, members of the Defence Forces will be involved in specific non-public facing roles, relieving DAA staff for security and screening duties in the main terminals. In the event of significant staff shortages due to COVID-19, it is envisaged that the Defence Forces personnel could be deployed to operate the external gateposts into the security restricted area of Dublin Airport, thereby potentially freeing up approximately 100 staff who could then be deployed in the main terminals. The exact numbers of Defence Forces personnel who will be trained and available to undertake these roles is being finalised and is expected to be about 130 personnel. As this is purely a contingency measure, while the Defence Forces will be on standby, they will only actually be deployed to Dublin Airport if requested by the DAA, and in the scenario where there is a significant deterioration in passenger queuing times with the risk of large numbers of passengers missing their flights. With regard to longer-term security resourcing at Dublin Airport, I would like to reassure members that this emergency measure will not take away from DAA's plans for the recruitment and training of additional security staff. The DAA are continuing in this regard with the expectation that optimal staffing levels will be in place by August. The DAA have advised that by that time 480 new security staff will have commenced employment at the airport since October 2021. As a precautionary measure, particularly in the context of the ongoing uncertainty around COVID-19 on the availability of staff, this level of resourcing includes additional staff over and above the 2019 staffing levels. Passenger numbers at Dublin Airport are now at over 90 per cent of 2019 levels, and it is expected that approximately 50,000 people will travel through Dublin Airport every day over the coming peak period. DAA's ongoing recruitment campaign, supported by this emergency contingency measure, will ensure that passengers can travel safely through Dublin Airport over the busy summer period ahead. Thanks. I wonder, has the Government learnt any lessons from this situation? Does the Government acknowledge that it was a mistake not to oppose DAA slashing terms and conditions, slashing the number of workers and using the pandemic in the way that they did? Does the Government investigate why we have this shortage of staff? Why is it that DAA can't recruit the security staff that they need to have? And therefore, why do you think that they're going to be able to have 480 new security staff? I mean, the answer seems to me, and from talking to workers is very simple, because you're going to find it very difficult to recruit workers with a promise of, you have to be available to work for up to 40 hours a week, but you may only get 20 hours a week on 14 euros an hour, because you can't make a life on that basis. You can't commit to pay a mortgage, you can't commit to pay childcare, particularly in the context of the cost of living crisis. That is not an attractive prospect for workers. And the problem is that with the Government's approach in terms of sending in the army, also low paid workers, the Government is letting the DAA away with that, and letting the DAA not address the central issue, which is that they use the pandemic to attack wages and conditions, aren't able to attract staff and still won't be able to attract staff unless they offer decent terms and conditions. So will the Government be asking DAA to ensure that people guaranteed 40 hours a week, for example, and so that they can build a life around that? Will you be asking the DAA to restore decent pay and conditions? Will you be opposing the DAA, but we also hear news in terms of Aer Lingus at the moment, plans to freeze workers' pay for five years? That, like right throughout the aviation industry, we saw attempts to use the pandemic to undermine terms and conditions, and that has negatively been affecting not just the workers, but society at large, with everybody who is attempting to go on holidays and so on. Thanks. Thank you, Deputy. In relation to pay and conditions, these are matters for DAA to deal directly with trade unions. And I think when you look at what the CEO said to the Joint Directorate Committee for Transport a number of weeks ago, in relation to the projections around aviation passenger numbers, if he knew then what he knows now in relation to the pick-up in relation to passenger travel, he would have made different decisions. But I want to just say that since the removal of COVID-19 related travel restrictions in March 2022, there has been a significant recovery in aviation passenger numbers throughout Europe. Between January and June of this year, passenger numbers at Dublin Airport have increased from about 200,000 per week to almost 650,000 per week, which represents a 220 per cent increase in passenger traffic over the course of five months. As of last week, the airport was processing almost 90 per cent of 2019 passenger levels. And while welcome, the pace of recovery has proven to be extremely challenging operationally for the aviation industry. Industry forecasts had predicted that this level of recovery would not occur until 2024 and 2025. However, I would like to reiterate that government is committed to doing what is necessary to ensure that passengers' expectations are met over the coming weeks and that passengers do not miss flights due to security queues at Dublin Airport. As part of the planning of any potential deployment of the Defence Forces, a service level agreement will be agreed between the Department of Defence and the DAA. The Invisit remit is for non-public facing security gate duties to free up approximately 100 existing DAA personnel for a proposed six-week timeframe. The DAA will pay the Department of Defence the entire and related costs of service provision, including salary costs, training, certification and management costs, and the costs associated with having the Defence Forces personnel on standby. Also, I would like to assure deputies that the full details of this agreement are currently being worked out between the Department of Defence, the Defence Forces and the DAA. Of course. The DAA is a approach to the乍