Ireland is making military personnel available to take on security duties at Dublin Airport. As elsewhere in Europe, the Irish airport also suffers from a shortage of staff, which increases waiting times for travellers. The army is now jumping in.
Defence Minister Simon Coveney said in a statement that the cabinet would respond to the call of minister Eamon Ryan (transport) to allow military personnel to undergo accelerated training as security guards, to deploy them where necessary at Dublin Airport. “While our armed forces do not typically provide services to commercial airports, we now face exceptional circumstances,” Coveney said.
It is planned that the military will be deployed at the airport for a maximum of six weeks during the high season. In addition, they are not supposed to come into contact with travelers: the soldiers are given other tasks in the security process, which allows other security guards to be moved to the transit points where passengers are checked.