Some 130 soldiers from the Defence Forces have been billeted in McKee Barracks in Dublin for the next six weeks in preparation for possible deployment at Dublin Airport.
The soldiers from Finner Camp in Co Donegal and from Dundalk Barracks will be on standby from Wednesday to assist if there are staff shortages at the airport.
It follows a request from the Department of Transport and from Dublin Airport’s operator, the DAA. Both are trying to avoid a repeat of the scenes earlier in the summer when more than a thousand passengers missed flights because of lengthy security queues.
The soldiers will only be deployed around the airport if there is a 20 per cent rate of absenteeism among airport security staff as a result of Covid-19.
In a short statement, the Department of Defence said the deployment will last until August 15th and cover the busiest holiday period.
Separately, the DAA confirmed that soldiers will not work in passenger facing roles, but instead be in charge of transport in and around the perimeter of the airport, freeing up other staff to deal with the security queues.
The soldiers will be trained by Shannon Airport staff seconded to Dublin Airport.
If deployed, the soldiers will monitor the vehicle control posts on the perimeter of the airport for staff working airside in the terminals.
Permanent Defence Force Other Ranks Representative Association (Pdforra) president Mark Keane said its members were always ready to “step up to the plate” to deal with any emergency situation, but the Commission on the Defence Forces had made it clear that this type of deployment was not one soldiers should be doing.
He said there had been no consultation with them other than emails from the Department of Defence. There has been no confirmation of any extra payments for members.
Siptu aviation official Niall Phillips said the original announcement last week that soldiers would be put on stand-by caught everybody by surprise.
“It caused a bit of upset about it at the time because there was very little detail about what the contingency plan meant for staff,” he said.
However, Mr Phillips said there had been consultation since, and staff will cooperate with the soldiers if they are needed.
Should the soldiers be needed, they will free up to 50 staff at a time to provide security for passengers.
“It is reassurance for members and for the travelling public that if there is large absenteeism. It is a back up,” Mr Phillips said.
