# Dublin airport garda passport control unacceptable delays



## Artois (2 Jan 2009)

Just arrived back from Edinburgh last night at 10.00 pm. Ryanair ensured that the flight was about 10 minutes early and pretty much painless. We used the on-line check-in and everything worked like clockwork until we reached Dublin airport where hundreds of people were forced to queue for about an hour to have their passports checked. 

I appreciate that passport control fulfils a necessary function, however, it must be possible to properly assign staff to passport control, to ensure that international travellers are not treated with total disregard. 

We need to support the tourism industry here. We cannot compete on price, as we are now one of the more expensive travel destinations, however, there is no reason why extremely highly paid state employees cannot deliver a better service.


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## z103 (2 Jan 2009)

Last time I travelled the other way, from Dublin to Edinburgh, there was no passport check at Edinburgh. You could just walk out of the arrivals hall into the main airport. It seems odd that the other direction is so messed up.


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## lasno (2 Jan 2009)

I believe there is an industrial relations issue with the Gardai at the airport.


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## bond-007 (2 Jan 2009)

The main problem is the fact that arrivals from all destinations are funnelled thru the one or 2 immigration counters available. There is no segregation of arrivals from the CTA and other areas. The net result is that all passengers must be checked for ID. 

They need to separate arrivals from within Ireland and the CTA from other European arrivals. It is ridiculous for someone arriving from Cork to have to produce a passport to get out of Dublin airport. The problem has been caused by the DAA and it is up to the DAA to fix the issue. The Gardaí are caught in the middle.


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## Artois (2 Jan 2009)

lasno said:


> I believe there is an industrial relations issue with the Gardai at the airport.


 
It is a disgrace that Irish tax payers and foreign tourists are being treated in this way by extremely highly paid public sector employees.


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## Complainer (2 Jan 2009)

Artois said:


> Just arrived back from Edinburgh last night at 10.00 pm. Ryanair ensured that the flight was about 10 minutes early and pretty much painless. We used the on-line check-in and everything worked like clockwork until we reached Dublin airport where hundreds of people were forced to queue for about an hour to have their passports checked.


Count yourself lucky that you don't have dark skin [broken link removed]


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## steph1 (2 Jan 2009)

Artois said:


> Just arrived back from Edinburgh last night at 10.00 pm. Ryanair ensured that the flight was about 10 minutes early and pretty much painless. We used the on-line check-in and everything worked like clockwork until we reached Dublin airport where hundreds of people were forced to queue for about an hour to have their passports checked.
> 
> I appreciate that passport control fulfils a necessary function, however, it must be possible to properly assign staff to passport control, to ensure that international travellers are not treated with total disregard.
> 
> We need to support the tourism industry here. We cannot compete on price, as we are now one of the more expensive travel destinations, however, there is no reason why extremely highly paid state employees cannot deliver a better service.



Ah sure most of them probably were on annual leave given the time of the year and the rest were probably missing in action feeling the effects of new year's eve.  Seriously though it is a disgrace that one should have to queue for that length of time.


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## Lollix (3 Jan 2009)

Glad to see that Dublin Airport starts off 2009 by retaining its title as Europe's worst managed airport.
It seems incredible that prople arriving form Cork would have to pass through passport control. Surely some mistake? Did nobody tell the DAA that the "people's republic" isn't actually a legal entity?


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## tink (3 Jan 2009)

same thing happened my sister who was travelling with 2 small children. She was waiting an hour on 28th - such a poor service.


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## rob30 (3 Jan 2009)

I have seen shocking queues at passport control in Dublin airport on many occasions. But even worse was an episode that happened me, and more recently my sister. Basically, passengers got off a plane at pier D, walked to the building to find door locked, no staff to open it, and wandering around the apron. I find this unacceptable, from a service and safety point of view. Emails to DAA were not answered. I remember overhearing a tourist say the whole thing is third world. The embarrassing thing about it all is that it is third world in efficiency terms!


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## minion (4 Jan 2009)

This has happened to me several times.  Usually on flights arriving in Dublin after 10pm.

There seem to always be a lot of international flights arriving at the same time.  You could get up to passport control and there could be 200 people waiting there.


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## LouthLass (4 Jan 2009)

Based on the above posts, if the queue is taking this long, would it be advisable to factor this in when picking up someone from the airport?   I ask because I have to pick my brother up on Jan 20th when he returns from Thailand and if he is going to be delayed for possibly an hour could I be cheeky enough not to leave for the airport until the time his flight arrives - save on the parking if so


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## bond-007 (4 Jan 2009)

LouthLass said:


> Based on the above posts, if the queue is taking this long, would it be advisable to factor this in when picking up someone from the airport?   I ask because I have to pick my brother up on Jan 20th when he returns from Thailand and if he is going to be delayed for possibly an hour could I be cheeky enough not to leave for the airport until the time his flight arrives - save on the parking if so


The day you do that he will be early.


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## LouthLass (4 Jan 2009)

bond-007 said:


> The day you do that he will be early.




Knowing my luck I think you're probably right  Maybe using the old chestnut of 'stuck behind a tractor' and 'really bad traffic' may appease him..............


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## j26 (4 Jan 2009)

I usually fly from Cork because of the hassle getting to Dublin annd parking etc, and the passport control is generally just to wave your unopened passport at the lad in the box - if it's not an Irish passport s/he might have a quick look at it.  I've never stopped at a desk there.

You should try Cuban passport control.  We were there years ago and were queueing up - all the passport control staff took a 30 minute break at the same time. So we had to stand for about an hour with cigar smoking police toting machine guns pottering about.


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## Happy_Harry (4 Jan 2009)

I fly quite regularly into Dublin airport and yes sometimes there is a queue, but even if the queue seems massive it only takes 10-15 mins max to get through, it just feels a lot longer. Dublin airport is really not the worst offender. Getting out at Amsterdam usually takes a lot longer. If there is a queue in Dublin there will be at least 10 channels open, in Amsterdam I found many times only 4 or 5 channels open. 
I do agree with the point though on the internal flights passengers having to go through passport control, that is just such a silly design flaw.


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## ClubMan (4 Jan 2009)

Artois said:


> It is a disgrace that Irish tax payers and foreign tourists are being treated in this way by extremely highly paid public sector employees.


Two questions:


Do you know for a fact that the alleged industrial dispute mentioned above is ongoing?
Do you know for a fact that this situation involves "extremely highly paid public sector employees"?


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## bond-007 (4 Jan 2009)

This has nothing to do with the Gardaí. 

As said earlier the issue is that the DAA have not got adequate facilities to deal with the various categories of incoming passengers.


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## PatriciaFox (4 Jan 2009)

There are far worse than Dublin airport, I can assure you! 

The animals they have working in US airports can be so much slower and a lot less welcoming than the Gardai doing the same job in Irish airports.


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## markpb (4 Jan 2009)

bond-007 said:


> This has nothing to do with the Gardaí. As said earlier the issue is that the DAA have not got adequate facilities to deal with the various categories of incoming passengers.



Indeed, the blame for this lies entirely with the government. They took almost a decade to decide who should operate T2 while they squirmed about trying to keep the unions happy. While they were faffing about, they left Aer Rianta without the ability to plan for the long term. They couldn't plan for T2 because they didn't have an answer about it, they couldn't extend T1 properly because the government wouldn't fund it while T2 was in the offing. In the end, they kludged the existing building as best they could and left us with the mess we have today.


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## minion (4 Jan 2009)

Happy_Harry said:


> I fly quite regularly into Dublin airport and yes sometimes there is a queue, but even if the queue seems massive it only takes 10-15 mins max to get through, it just feels a lot longer. Dublin airport is really not the worst offender. Getting out at Amsterdam usually takes a lot longer. If there is a queue in Dublin there will be at least 10 channels open, in Amsterdam I found many times only 4 or 5 channels open.
> I do agree with the point though on the internal flights passengers having to go through passport control, that is just such a silly design flaw.



When ive seen this happen its been late and there are only 2 - 3 officers at the desks.  The problem is that they allow everyone through any line no matter where they are from.  So this slows everyone up.

I can assure you that when things are bad that it takes a hell of a lot longer than 15 minutes to get through and there are only a few gates open too.


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## Artois (4 Jan 2009)

ClubMan said:


> Two questions:
> 
> 
> Do you know for a fact that the alleged industrial dispute mentioned above is ongoing?
> Do you know for a fact that this situation involves "extremely highly paid public sector employees"?





1.     I simply happened to be unfortunate enough to encounter the long queue earlier.  I have no idea if there is a dispute on-going.  I was told by a DAA usher that; "the guards were on a go-slow".  
  I believe it is critical that our national airport should function to a reasonable standard and should not be operated in a manner to frustrate and inconvenience travelers.   Whether  the problems arises due to an industrial dispute or due to bad management it should be resolved. 


   2.     I suspect the problem rests with the DAA solely or a combination of An Garda Síochana and the DAA. In such circumstances management in each organisation should knock the appropriate heads together to ensure that the problem is resolved.


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## pansyflower (4 Jan 2009)

> It is ridiculous for someone arriving from Cork to have to produce a passport to get out of Dublin airport.


So suppose you didn't bring a passport, and just had a driving licence as ID?


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## bond-007 (4 Jan 2009)

You would have to show that.


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## Topo (12 Jan 2009)

Does anyone know the Act/Law that obliges Irish passport holders/citizens to show id to a garda? I taught you where only oblige to give your name & address if asked by a garda?


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## extopia (12 Jan 2009)

Not if he's on border duty


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## Topo (12 Jan 2009)

Thanks extopia! You wouldn't have deatils of the Act/Law that betows that power?


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## extopia (13 Jan 2009)

No, but I'd imagine it's the same law that requires a passport to be produced when entering the country.


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## Sunny (13 Jan 2009)

Reason for the delays

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/ireland/article5489282.ece


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## jhegarty (13 Jan 2009)

extopia said:


> Not if he's on border duty




We don't have a border between cork and dublin*



* Yet


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## Dicette (13 Jan 2009)

> Reason for the delays
> 
> http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle5489282.ece


 
Read this on Sunday - makes a lot of sense. Flew back into Dublin on 28th Dec and queues were ridiculous. Tried to go through Non-EU kiosk which had no queue, but was told to go to EU queue.

Overheard two of the DAA customer care guys giving out about the guards checking each passport very slowly. 

Great welcome to the country/home from a trip.


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## extopia (13 Jan 2009)

jhegarty said:


> We don't have a border between cork and dublin


 Well of course not. It seems to be an airport design and/or mismanagement issue that forces domestic passengers into the immigration inspection queue.


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## Simeon (14 Jan 2009)

Had to wait for someone coming through the 'non EU' gates on Sunday night last. The delay was about 20 mins ......... possibly twenty people awaiting ......... three gates open ......... some of the questions asked were ridiculous ........ mostly targeted non European-looking passengers etc. Now is there any way that things can be reversed here, and a person can sue Ireland's finest for wasting their time. If they are on a go slow because of the lunchbreak thing ........ that should be declared illegal. Two of the people being hassled by the gardai were Asian tourists. If they had their papers in order why the questioning and if they didn't, why were they let through?


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## bond-007 (14 Jan 2009)

What sort of crazy things were they asked?


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## Simeon (14 Jan 2009)

I heard a passenger ask back "Why do you ask how many children my sister has"? I assume that she was visiting her sister. Again, if her papers were in order why this haranguing attitude?


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## Lollix (15 Jan 2009)

Came through the airport last night off a UK flight. No queues, was at the taxi rank fifteen mins after landing. Loads of Garda on duty.
They must have been reading AAM!


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## TheShark (15 Jan 2009)

Came through at 5pm today , just a 2-3min delay. Four "EU" and Two "Non-EU" booths in operation.


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## Lollix (22 Jan 2009)

They're at it again! Came back from London on Tue night and hit a long queue at the garda desks.
I'm always amazed at Dublin Airport and it's handling of disembarking passengers. It's as if they are taken by surprise every time a plane lands. There's a kind of head-scratching approach to each arriving flight. "Oh Jaysus, here's another of them bleedin things, where's the fella wit the steps?"


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