Soldiers hit back at being asked to ‘compensate’ for poor management of Dublin Airport queues
Army personnel are set to be drafted in to help at security gates Dublin Airport. in the coming months.
The Taoiseach and other cabinet ministers previously stated that the Defense Forces wouldn’t be called to help out, now the Government has agreed for soldiers to get trained in case airport staff shortages due to Covid-19.
But groups representing members of the Army have said they want to know how they’ll be compensated for their assistance at Dublin Airport.
Foreign Affairs and Defence Minister Simon Coveney has said he brought the proposal to Government after a request from Transport Minister Eamon Ryan.
He said: “While I recognise that the role of the Defence Forces is not normally to assist in the provision of services for a commercial airport, I have agreed to this request on a clear assurance that this is a distinct piece of work, provided in extreme circumstances, as a short-term emergency related contingency action and is in direct response to a letter from daa management to the Minister for Transport.
“The request is clearly defined in terms of the role and timeline, lasting no more than six weeks, in non-public facing duties.
“However, this support will be stood down in August when the busy holiday period has passed.”
Transport Minister Eamon Ryan said that there could be a role for Army personnel to assist at the security entry points on the perimeter of the airport where vehicles enter.
Speaking to RTÉ’s News at One, Minister Ryan said that by deploying members of the Defence Forces to these posts it could free up 100 of the airport’s own staff to be moved to the main security centre “in the event of a very difficult period.
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“If there were a large amount of people who couldn’t go to work because of Covid we wanted to make sure we had back-up capacity.”
Minister Ryan said the period between July 6 and August 15 is when he says the airport “might need standby.”
He said 480 additional security staff have been recruited since last October, which he said provides a “buffer”.
The Representative Association of Commissioned Officer (RACO) said this decision was in contrast to previous statements by Minister Coveney and Taoiseach Mícheál Martin, which ruled out the deployment of the Army, and confirmed that it was a human resources issue for Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) to solve.
The association’s General Secretary, Conor King said it was “another example of the Defence Forces being used as emergency cover to compensate for management decisions in other state bodies.”
He said: “We need clarity on the type of roles our members will be expected to perform, what their working conditions will be, and what compensation they will be receiving for their work.
“We must not ignore the recommendation of the Commission on the Defence Forces to end the ‘free labour aspect of military service’, which would be a further blow to morale in the organisation.”
