![\"Dermot](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0_Dermot-Smyth.png\")
<\/p>\nDermot Smyth works for the Airport Search Unit in Terminal 1, and became an unexpected social media star in his short videos on Dublin Airport’s channels<\/p>\n
11:36, 28 May 2026Updated 11:42, 28 May 2026<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Dermot Smyth<\/p>\n
A Dublin Airport security worker who became a viral sensation is retiring – 49 years after his first day at the Airport.<\/p>\n
Dermot Smyth works for the Airport Search Unit in Terminal 1, and became an unexpected social media star in his short videos on Dublin<\/a> Airport’s channels. But now, he is set to say goodbye to the place he worked his first shift at in 1978.<\/p>\n Dermot said: “I was literally out of school, St Aidan’s CBS, straight in to a job for the summer, and was just kept on after that. I was coming from Ballymun to Dublin Airport<\/a>, ten minutes away from where I lived, and I was really excited but very nervous that day.”<\/p>\n Dermot says he has “mixed emotions” about leaving the Airport after so long. He took a twelve-year sabbatical away from Airport service, but returned in 2007 and has been working there ever since.<\/p>\n “I’m going to miss everybody,” he said. “I’m going to miss the passengers, I’m going to miss the staff so much, the staff have made our unit.<\/p>\n “It’ll be really emotional. I’ll probabkly have whinge, and I’ll be slagged for that!” Dermot says he’s looking forward to focusing on music and cycling in his retirement.<\/p>\n He said: “I bought a new bike, I’ll be cycling, I’ll do my music. I’ll adapt to work outside of the Airport, but it’s been my life for so long now.”<\/p>\n Dermot’s favourite time of the year at the Airport is Christmas<\/a>, and he said he’d “love to come back” in December because it’s “cuch a great time”. He said: “I love the children.<\/p>\n “They’re buzzing for going away on holidays, whether it be Lapland or wherever it is. Christmas is such a great time, and it’s a great time to be at the Airport.”<\/p>\n Dermot was already well-known to regular travellers through the Airport for his cheerful banter, but he gained a dedicated social following for his antics in the last five years too. He said: “After Covid<\/a>, and when things started to kick back in, when aviation started to come back, I wanted to be positive.<\/p>\n “II got a lot of support when things happened with my Mam and Dad, and I said I’m going to be positive for the staff and for the passengers. It’s very hard to say goodbye to that, I’ve loved every minute of it, and thanks to all the passengers.<\/p>\n “They’ve been very, very kind to me.”<\/p>\n Want to see more of the stories you love from Dublin Live? Making us your preferred source on Google<\/a> means you\u2019ll get more of our exclusives, top stories and must-read content straight away. To add Dublin Live as a preferred source, simply click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Join our Dublin Live breaking news service on WhatsApp. Click this link <\/a>to receive your daily dose of Dublin Live content.<\/p>\n We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don\u2019t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you\u2019re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dermot Smyth works for the Airport Search Unit in Terminal 1, and became an unexpected social media star…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":472085,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[11900,61,60,43],"class_list":["post-472084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-dublin-airport","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=472084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472084\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/472085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}