I also wish to raise the issue of Dublin Airport. Just two months into the pandemic, the DAA announced its redundancy programme. A gun-to-the-head programme was announced. It was obvious that some organisations used the pandemic as cover for a restructure and to reduce costs. The DAA falls into that category. Despite Mr. Phillips's insistence that the DAA was desperate to hire security staff, its initial recruitment guaranteed just 20 hours. People had to be available for 40 hours, but DAA guaranteed them only 20 hours, which has now increased to 30 hours, at €14.14 per hour. This is a job with significant responsibility. People have to be available over weekends. Shift premium is built into that €14.14 in these flexible contracts. Is it any wonder that the airport has a shortage of hundreds of staff, when it offers those kinds of terms? That has to be part of this discussion. That kind of flexibility is not sufficient to allow people to pay their rent or childcare and certainly not to have a second job.

After the Minister met with the DAA back in March, passengers were advised that they should be at the airport two hours in advance of short-haul flights and three hours in advance of long-haul flights. Today it is two and a half hours and three and a half hours, respectively. However, if a passenger wants to put a bag in, which most do, it is another hour. One is really talking about three and a half hours to four and a half hours, respectively.

What I would describe as a fiasco that has flown under the radar until now is the fact that Dublin Airport abysmally failed an EU security audit some time ago. Officials from the European Aviation Safety Agency tried to smuggle dangerous items such as firearms, knives and improvised explosives through the airport. Of the ten smuggling attempts, seven were successful. What has the Minister been told about the absolute guarantee of security? What evidence has the airport given the Minister?

I have no doubt the Minister and the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, met with the DAA, but what did it tell the Minister? What was the discussion about? Was it a discussion about delays? Was it a discussion about recruitment? Did it talk to the Minister about the payroll problem? What was the substance of the issues that the Minister discussed with the DAA? What assurance did it give him? Did the DAA give them the evidence of how it would resolve these issues? What did it tell him about security and how it can guarantee that what happened with that security audit will not happen again?

We meet on a daily basis about what is happening in the airport on a given day and the resource situation. This morning, there were 13 lanes open in terminal 1 and ten lanes open in terminal 2. In regard to the times, while not in the ordinary manner of the way an airport works, were nothing like the scenes that had been seen previously. We need to check on a daily basis to make sure that the public is not inconvenienced. That is the first and most important thing we discuss every day. It has been primarily about how we get in the staff and resources and deploy them. That has been the key issue, not just in this sector or airport, but in others. Training and making sure that those people are in place has been the key issue going right back to March.

As the Deputy said, the original redundancy occurred two years previously, in the first few months of the Covid pandemic. No one knew then what the future of aviation was. For long periods, there was real concerns as to whether our airlines and the airports would be able to survive. What we in government also discussed on an ongoing basis was the provision of supports for the airports, especially regional airports which were further and worse hit, but also Dublin Airport, to try to make sure we got through the crisis during which aviation disappeared for two years, in effect. The numbers went down.

Since that time in March, there has been razor-like focus on resources in terms of training, deployment and staffing. Up to last weekend, it was incredibly tight and it is still tight. The reason Dalton Phillips was not able to give cast-iron guarantees at the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications yesterday is that we are still in a very tight situation. There will be some 50,000 passengers today, 45,000 tomorrow, 49,000 on Sunday and 50,000 on Monday. The airport is counting those because the resources are not yet back. Those are pre-Covid passenger numbers and our resource numbers are not yet back. They will be very shortly, but in this tight intervening period, we talk about how we can make sure we manage through this difficult period. We will manage by throwing everything at it. We will throw staff at it and bring staff up from Cork. We will look at a range of different options and further options as needs be.

I will speak about the wider issue. The Deputy has a long record in discussing issues about working conditions, the nature of work practices and their ethics or ethos. We need to look at just-in-time contract arrangements for workers to create much more stable and certain working conditions in order that we hold on to people, do not have to employ more people and can get the best sort of working environment. Dublin Airport can be, has been and will be that. However, we need to look at the industry in a broader perspective with regard to practices of keeping a very tight margin and tight timelines.

The Minister did not address the issue of security. Will he address that when he replies?

This is an important job. Significant training is required. An issue that will be central to sustaining the airport in the future is the quality of the employment. What is being offered to people who have to be available over any 40 hours in a week? It could be a Sunday, a Tuesday or a Friday night. What kind of quality of life is that for €14 an hour? That has to be addressed with regard to the future sustainability of the airport.

There were other issues such as filthy toilets. If people have to wait for three and a half or four hours, they need places to sit, even in this chaotic time. That is unacceptable and it is often the last thing that people recall when leaving the island after having a holiday or doing business. Will the Minister address the security and job issue, please?

The point about security is well-made and publicly acknowledged. It shows that the training, getting the right people and the skilled nature of this work are very real. One frustration in recent weeks has been from people who have gone through the training process but did not eventually get the job. When we were short and every number mattered, people wondered if we could just turn a blind eye, but we cannot do that with security. It is a highly-skilled, demanding and testing job. It is not just about the scanning job, although that is the critical pinch point, but also about how one interacts with the public. If they have to search someone, such as with a body search, that has to be done in a careful and experienced manner.

It is not yellow pack.

No. That is why we cannot just turn around in an instant and say we will let everyone in. That does not work in aviation. Aviation is based on the most secure systems, with nothing being left to chance and with the highest protection levels. That is one reason it has been difficult for the airport to get the numbers in in the timelines we need it to.