Ground handling company at Dublin Airport, Sky Handling Partner, faced increased government scrutiny this week after photos emerged by ITV showing baggage in a bin outside Dublin Airport. Sky Handling Partner is facing an increase in luggage at the airport as the summer season continues.

Government scrutiny

The Oireachtas (Irish Parliament) Transport Committee has given baggage companies at Dublin Airport two weeks to reunite luggage with their owners. This is proving to be a difficult task given the amount of bags at the airport.

The Transport Committee has seen the images by UTV and has demanded answers from Sky Handling Partner. The company said it was forced to bin the missing luggage for security reasons, claiming the bags had perishable items inside. Other images show hundreds of bags at baggage carousels at Dublin Airport. However, the committee is demanding to know if this happened before and how many bags were discarded.

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Photo: ITV News

"We are in contact with the Oireachtas Committee and have explained that the decision to dispose the relevant bags was taken in line with normal procedures for dealing with contaminated and foul baggage which was clearly posing a health and safety risk including a risk of contamination to other baggage," said Sky Handling Partner managing director Darren Moloney

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More bags are seen dumped outside Dublin Airport. Photo: ITV News

So far, over 4000 bags at Dublin Airport have been misplaced or missing. The increase in missing baggage is due to the rising number of passengers going through the airport and a staffing issue due to COVID-19 illnesses.

The Airports Response

The Dublin Airport Authority said it works closely with baggage handling companies to ensure luggage is reunited. The DAA had to post on social media recently to express that it does not have a role in baggage at the airport.

"Similarly, DAA has no role in relation to baggage delivery and passengers are advised to contact their airline or its local ground handling agent in relation to queries regarding lost bags," said the DAA on Twitter.

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Photo: Dublin Airport Authority

A spokesman for Dublin Airport said in an interview with ITV:

"I think when you see those images of bags in skips it doesn't reflect well on Dublin Airport. We are concerned by that in terms of our brand image so we are working very closely with those companies to see that these types of things don't happen.

"There's obviously health and safety issues there. We are working closely with those companies to make sure these issues are handled in the right way, that passengers know where their baggage is at as soon as possible and these passengers can get these bags back as soon as possible."

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Increased pressure on Dublin Airport

Over the last couple of months, Dublin Airport has faced a sharp increase in demand. After the pandemic, people are holidaying abroad, and there is also an increase in hotel prices in the country.

Passengers traveling through the airport noted the long security queues. Some passengers reported lines for up to two and a half hours, leading to passengers missing flights.

The Dublin Airport Authority has expressed staffing shortages at the airport due to staff illness with COVID-19. Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Micheál Martin said the Irish Defence Forces should be sent into the airport to help with staff issues. However, this has led to concerns over pay and working conditions for members at the airport.

Source: ITV News

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