Northern Ireland passengers using Dublin Airport have been given an official warning that long delays are to be expected in the coming days and weeks due to staffing shortages.
It follows reports of people waiting for up to two and a half hours for security screening, with some delays causing passengers to miss their flights.
Images circulated on social media over the weekend showed lengthy queues with many passengers taking to Twitter to slam the “chaotic scenes” and “outrageous” delays.
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Some passengers said they had queued over three hours for security, while others reported waiting over 90 minutes when using the Fast Track service.
Airline Ryanair had warned passengers to get to the airport early and claimed the issue was due to DAA staff shortages.
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.
The airport has now been scrambling to hire staff and train them in time for the busy summer season.
DAA, which operates Dublin Airport, has apologised for the delays and to the affected passengers.
It said: "Like other airports all over Europe, we are currently working extremely hard to ramp-up our operation at Dublin Airport after the collapse of international travel over the past two years including the hiring and training of staff after 1,000 workers left the airport under a voluntary severance scheme during the Covid-19 pandemic."
Since January, more than 100 new security staff have been recruited.
However, DAA said the recruitment, training and background security checks required for all staff working at international airports could take up to a number of weeks.
It said: "This is having an impact on the length of time it is taking passengers to get through security, particularly at busy times.
"We apologise in advance but queues for security are likely to be experienced at peak hours over the days and weeks ahead as we continue to bring trained staff on board."
Footage on social media showed long queues inside Terminal 1 on Sunday evening, which later eased.
Bottled water was also been made available to passengers queuing for security.
With further delays expected in the coming days and weeks, passengers have been advised to arrive in plenty of time for their flight, especially during peak hours.
DAA said: "To minimise the impact, we encourage all passengers to check-in bags where they can and to carry the minimum amount with them when presenting at security."
Passengers are also encouraged to "be at the airport a minimum of two hours before boarding a short-haul flight and three hours prior to boarding a long-haul flight."
DAA has acknowledged that some people have missed flights due to the delays.
In a statement, it said: "We empathise completely with any passengers who have missed a flight this weekend as a result of the delays at airport security."
"Thankfully, many of those passengers have been accommodated on later flights or have rebooked," it added.
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