Northern Ireland passengers using Dublin Airport have been warned that lengthy delays are expected to continue over the busy Easter period.
It follows long delays over recent weeks due to staff shortages with reports of people waiting several hours for security screening and some delays causing passengers to miss their flights.
Like many other airports, Dublin has been significantly impacted by the pandemic as international travel operations were reduced and many staff left under a voluntary severance scheme.
Read more: NI travellers warned to expect long delays at Dublin Airport due to staffing shortages
The airport has now been scrambling to hire staff and train them in time for the busy summer season.
The daa, which operates Dublin Airport, has already apologised for the delays and to the affected passengers.
It has now put a five-point plan in motion for the busy Easter holiday period after weeks of major delays.
The changes, first implemented on March 27, have so far ensured that none of the 300,000 passengers travelling through Dublin Airport have missed their flights.
Despite this, customers are still warned that they should arrive at least three and a half hours before their flight to ensure they have enough time to make their boarding call.
Customers heading through the airport have been taking to social media in recent weeks as queues left some waiting up to four hours to get through security.
The daa admitted that it is dealing with major staffing issues, and while hundreds of new recruits have been brought on, EU regulations mean weeks of training and garda vetting need to be complete before new staff can be deployed.
As the travel industry recovers post-Covid, officials have said new measures are being brought in to curb the long waits as many gear up for an Easter break abroad.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the daa said: “Implementation of these measures has been successful over the past 10 days with none of the c.300,000 passengers that have departed out of Dublin Airport since March 27 having missed a flight due to security queues.
“However, with Dublin Airport set to get busier over the coming weeks, passengers are being reminded to arrive at the airport a minimum of three and a half hours prior to their departure time.”
The plan includes recruitment, training, and security clearance of a significant number of additional security screening staff “to help Dublin Airport cope with the significantly higher than expected passenger numbers set to fly over the coming weeks and months.”
Staff are also being drafted in from other airports around the country, as well as from other roles in the daa to fill the gap in the capital.
Passengers are reminded that peak times of 6am to 10am will see the longest queues at security and so anyone travelling through Dublin Airport in the coming days and weeks should be prepared for things to take longer than they might expect.
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