DUBLIN Airport has been called on by the Government to give it a plan of how it will deal with “worsening” hygiene and cleaning issues.
Minister of State with responsibility for aviation Hildegarde Naughton raised the issue with DAA chairman Basil Geoghegan at the beginning of June.
This comes as passengers as Dublin Airport reported unhygienic conditions as the DAA struggled with staffing issues.
The video conference call on June 3 saw Naughton bring up issues with the DAA that were “needing attention” – including cleaning issues.
One of Minister Naughton’s advisers was seen in internal department correspondence on July 7 stating they “would like DAA to set out in a note what plans it has to deal with hygiene issues/cleaning in the airport”.
The adviser also added that the “situation appears to be worsening”.
Despite this, later in June passengers posted to social media slamming the uncollected rubbish around public parts of the airport.
DAA media relations manager Graeme McQueen told The Irish Times that international travel has been challenging for airports across the world.
He said that Dublin Airport has had a strategy to ensure “travel-starved passengers” could go abroad.
McQueen said: “We have also made it an absolute priority since late May that no passenger would miss a flight due to delays at security screening.
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“A consequence of this strategy, which has at times required the redeployment of staff to different roles within the business, is that certain aspects of our service have been negatively impacted as a result.”
McQueen told The Irish Times that due to the high number of passengers showing up earlier for flights people are spending more time in the terminal before flying.
He added: “Which in turn increases the amount of pressure on our facilities, including toilets and seating areas.”
He continued: “he ongoing recruitment of additional staff is allowing us to increase our focus on these areas and passengers are starting to see standards improve once again.”
He told the paper that the DAA are striving “to get back to the excellent standards that Dublin Airport was renowned for prior to the pandemic.
The DAA has plans to improve passenger experience at the airport including a management task force for cleaning duties across key passenger areas and the engagement of a third-party deep cleaning specialist.
