Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 15 September 2021
766. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the estimated full-year cost of increasing the hours his officials are present at the border control post at Dublin Airport from the current hours of 9 am to 5.45 pm Monday to Friday to 7.30 am to 10 pm seven days a week. [43390/21]
View answerThe hours of operation for DAFM staff at Dublin Airport are 9am to 5.45pm Monday to Friday. No service is provided on Sunday. Occasionally service is provided on a Saturday to deal with urgent matters. The opening hours of each Border Control Post are based on the demand for services required at each site. My Department has not received any requests to extend the operational hours at Dublin Airport and I am satisfied that the current opening hours are sufficient to meet existing demand. So far in 2021, Dublin Airport BCP has processed 1,569 consignments compared to 38,060 consignments that have been processed at Dublin Port.
The estimated costs of extending the hours of service from the current hours to 7.30 to 10 pm seven days a week are as follows. This arrangement would require DAFM to operate five teams at Dublin Airport rather than the current two team arrangement. This would require DAFM to recruit three additional Veterinary Inspectors, three additional Agricultural Inspectors and six additional Clerical Officer Portal Inspectors at an annual additional cost of €573,000. There would be a requirement for the payment of shift premiums arising from working irregular hours and Sundays. There would also be a requirement to extend the hours of operation of the current facilities management contract with a projected increase cost in the region of €135,000.
The additional costs associated with extending the hours of DAFM operation at Dublin Airport cannot be justified based on existing demand. It may be noted that DAFM has already has 185 full-time staff working on import controls at border control posts.
