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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
National
Ciara Phelan & David Kent

Leo Varadkar issues advice to anyone flying from Dublin Airport in coming weeks as lengthy queues continue

Leo Varadkar has issued updated advice to anyone planning to fly out of Dublin Airport over the next two weekends, after lengthy queues continued on Friday morning.

Last week, there were chaotic scenes at security gates in Ireland's largest airport, with hundreds of people missing their flights as a result.

The delays are causing massive issues for both flyers and airport staff.

Read more: Dublin Airport workers want Garda protection after being spat at by irate passengers in unprecedented queues

Speaking to reporters at Dublin Zoo on Friday, Mr Varadkar said: "We're working on the queues. The airport is very busy and will be for the next couple of weekends, particularly Easter weekend.

"Traffic volumes are 30% higher than anticipated and they're short of staff members and also due to regulatory issues, the number of bags to check has been increased."

Mr Varadkar noted that there are people working on fixing the issues, but also issued key advice to anyone travelling in the next fortnight.

"The airport is working on it, they're hoping for flexibility from the European Commission. If you're flying within Europe, be there two hours in advance, if you're long-haul three hours."

Never-before-seen levels of delays and disruption at Dublin Airport have been spiralling since they first emerged over the St Patrick’s Day holiday and have now reached crisis point, according to workers and their union reps.

But passengers have been scathing of the delays and some claimed that they are compounded by security staff conducting a high volume of random bag searches and also by not letting pregnant women and families with young children to progress through the snaking queues.

READ MORE: Covid emergency powers stop today - What it means for Irish people from face masks to travel

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