The Minister for Transport has said he is “paying close attention” to staffing issues with air traffic controllers that have led to Ireland’s airspace being affected with runways closed intermittently at Dublin and Cork airports.
AirNav Ireland, which is responsible for Irish air traffic control, said the restrictions at Cork Airport were in place between midnight and 7am on 11 February, which led to disruption to normal flight schedules.
Some flights had to be diverted or were delayed.
AirNav Ireland said it had “temporarily restricted the flow of arriving and departing flights at Cork Airport to ensure safety was fully maintained” due to “short-notice sick leave overnight”.
Daa, the operator of Dublin and Cork airports, said departures and arrivals at Dublin Airport have been impacted “at times over a number of weeks” and that the most recent was Friday night when airspace was closed for two 30-minute periods at 2am and 4am.
In a statement to RTÉ News, Darragh O’Brien said his department’s “primary focus is on ensuring the smooth operation of our airports and minimising disruption to passengers”.
He said the priority for AirNav is the safe operation of Irish airspace and that it is “currently engaging with Fórsa on issues such as staffing levels through the company’s internal dispute resolution board mechanism”.
The minister said it would be inappropriate to comment further while that engagement is under way.
Talks between the Fórsa union and AirNav Ireland will continue after an agreement was reached on proposals at a meeting yesterday.
In a statement, AirNav Ireland said it has been informed by the Internal Disputes Resolution Board that Fórsa agreed to proposals presented to both parties and that talks are expected to continue next week.