Anger erupted at Dublin airport at the weekend as hundreds of passengers queued for up to an hour to pass through Garda immigration and passport control.
Passengers arriving through Pier A, which mainly receives short-haul European flights, became trapped in a bottleneck at the corridor which leads to the Garda booths where passports are checked, resulting in long delays from 10pm on both Saturday and Sunday nights.
While there are four Garda booths serving the pier, callers to RTÉ's Liveline yesterday claimed they were not all manned. They also claimed that some frustrated passengers had climbed over the barriers at the unmanned points without showing their passports.
When passengers eventually passed through to the arrivals area they were faced with large queues for taxis.
A Garda spokesman said yesterday that all four checkpoints were fully manned. However, he pointed out that officers have to leave their checkpoint if they are called to deal with an arrest, and this might have contributed to the impression that there were fewer than four gardaí on duty. He said he was not aware that passengers had climbed over the barriers. No arrests had been made in relation to such offences.
Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) admitted yesterday that there were ongoing overcrowding problems at the Pier A immigration points. Delays had worsened during the peak summer period.
"There is a pinch point in the Pier A corridor. We recently took out a load of offices to make more room. Where there were three Garda immigration desks, we have made room for four, but the manning of these desks is an issue for the gardaí and is not under the control of the DAA," said a spokeswoman.
Piers B and C, which receive a greater number of international flights, have 13 immigration booths between them. The development of a new pier, Pier D, due to open in October 2007, would incorporate a new large immigration inspection area which would also serve Pier A, she said.
Meanwhile, Fingal County Council will decide today whether to grant planning permission to the DAA for a marquee to help cope with overcrowding at the airport.
The DAA wants to erect a marquee with a capacity of more than 1,000 on the roof of a multi-storey car park.
