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Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Extra security measures for Dublin Airport as audit reveals shortfalls
BY ELAINE EDWARDS
Ireland - The Irish Times


PASSENGERS FLYING from Dublin Airport will face additional security measures
for a number of months after an EU audit identified two deficiencies in
security.

The European Commission has taken formal proceedings to get Dublin Airport
to address the problems, and it will temporarily impose additional
restrictions on flights out of the airport.

One of the two matters has already been addressed, but the Dublin Airport
Authority said the second would take about two months to address due to its
“technical” nature.

The commission is imposing additional security procedures on aircraft leavin
Dublin and arriving into other EU airports in the meantime, Minister for
Transport Leo Varadkar confirmed.

“These additional procedures are not expected to have any significant impact
on passengers at Dublin Airport unless they are transferring through another
EU airport en route to their final destination, in which case they will be
required to undergo screening again,” he said.

“This does not impact on other airports in the State.”

Mr Varadkar said he had taken steps to ensure any deficiencies were
rectified swiftly, including by visiting officials at the airport on Monday.
Neither the Minister nor the airport authority would give details of the
nature of the problems for security reasons.

A spokeswoman for the European Commission said inspectors made 35-40 visits
a year to member states’ airports to ensure they were abiding by the common
security standard put in place in the wake of the September 11th, 2001,
attacks on the United States.

Common EU rules allow passengers to move freely because the different
airport authorities recognise each other as applying the same security
standards, the spokeswoman said.

It was not unusual to find deficiencies during such an audit, but it was
perhaps “a little bit unusual” that the commission had to issue formal
proceedings in order to get the issues in Dublin addressed.

She said this would mean “minor inconvenience” for passengers but also
“reputational damage” for Ireland vis-a-vis the other airport authorities
that would have to be informed.

A spokeswoman for the Dublin Airport Authority insisted that passengers
initially flying out of Dublin would not be affected by the change and that
it would not add to waiting times at security screening for these travellers
and their luggage.

“Passengers transferring through other European airports may be required to
undergo further security screening,” the DAA said.

Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary said it was “unacceptable” that
there had not been an “open, transparent and honest answer” about the
security issues from either the Department of Transport or the Dublin
Airport Authority.

He said it had been confirmed that the authority knew of the security
failure for more than a month, and it was “so serious that
Dublin-originating aircraft will now be treated as the same security risk as
flights originating from Afghanistan and Somalia”.

Aer Lingus said that while it was concerned at the “potential inconvenience”
the issues may cause to its customers, its initial assessment was that such
inconvenience could be minimised and it would “work closely with the
relevant authorities to achieve this”.

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