Ryanair chief executive Eddie Wilson has argued that some people are “looking for problems that do not exist” with regard to contingency plans to redeploy army personnel to Dublin airport.
The Department of Transportation announced yesterday that members of the military will begin training so that they can vouch for security personnel at the airport in the event of a Covid-19 surge.
Transport Minister Eamon Ryan said the plan would cover the period from July 6 to August 15.
Following the announcement, both the Representative Association of Commissioners (RACO) and Permanent Defense Force Other Range Representative Association (PDFORRA) criticized the move, saying they had not been consulted prior to the announcement.
RACO and PDFORRA representatives questioned what compensation its members would receive for the possible airport work, what work they would do and whether the redeployment would conflict with daily military duties or private annual leave.
Both unions said their members would adhere to the contingency plan, but argued clarity was needed.
Talk about RTEs Today with Claire Byrne program, Ryanair’s Eddie Wilson said people were “wrapped up in anxiety” about going to the airport, even though there are currently no problems there, and said the army on standby was the ‘sensitive’ thing to do.
“The security people up there are doing a fantastic job of managing the ropes in very difficult conditions … but it’s sensitive to have that as a contingency in the background, so if we have another opportunity, you at least “I have a spare capacity there and I understand that it will be a contingency, they will be trained and they will release other DAA staff from elsewhere to join the queues,” he said.
“It makes no sense to have reports afterwards about what went wrong and it will never happen again, which is the normal thing we do in Ireland. “Let’s do a little planning here and if there’s a contingency in place, then you have something to rely on, especially on weekends, and that’s the right thing to do.”
Sinn Fein TD, Louise O’Reilly, spoke on the same program, arguing that the way in which members of the Army were informed about the plan was “respectful”.
Deputy O’Reilly reiterated the concerns raised by RACO and PDFORRA, saying both groups should have been consulted.
“These are people, they are not machines. They may need to do some training, that’s great, so when will they be trained, and who will replace them? “I mean the Army already needs 3,000 staff members, so there are practical considerations,” she said.
“I do not dispute for a moment that they are going to be a valuable addition, but I would ask … why is it now that they are going to deploy the Army to the airport with a week’s notice? Do they know anything about a peak that is going to happen? It is a useful event to have additional staff on standby, but you have to treat them as people. ”
In response, Eddie Wilson said: “We are trying to solve problems that really do not exist”.
He added: “I am sure they will be paid… This is a matter for the Government on how they deal with the Army representatives. The majority of people who listen this morning will say that it is very sensitive to do something as a contingency. ”
This comes as new data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows that 1,592,400 overseas passengers arrived in Ireland last month.
About 85,400 overseas passengers arrived in Ireland in May 2021 and only 28,300 overseas passengers arrived in May 2020.
Despite welcoming nearly 1.6 million overseas passengers last month, Irish overseas travel continued to decline by 12.5 pct at pre-pandemic levels. In May 2019, there were 1,818,900 overseas arrivals.
The CSO report found that both air and sea travel are recovering, but the recovery in air travel is the most dramatic, with a twenty-one-fold increase compared to May 2021.
The recovery was also spread over all major routes. Trans-Atlantic traffic increased the most in relative terms, with 35 trans-Atlantic passengers arriving in May 2022 for each in May 2021.
Among the continental routes, Spanish routes were the busiest, with 220,200 passengers arriving from Spain in May.
Britain remained the main departure country for overseas travelers to Ireland, with 536,200 passengers arriving on air and sea routes, compared to just 32,400 in May last year.