Dublin Airport ground baggage handlers under government pressure to explain luggage dumped in bin
Ground baggage handlers at Dublin Airport are under increasing pressure to explain why passengers’ missing luggage was dumped in a skip.
More than 4000 cases belonging to passengers travelling through the airport have been misplaced or are missing.
Earlier this week UTV exclusively revealed shocking photographs of some missing items in a bin.
After viewing the images the Irish Parliament’s Transport Committee has now demanded answers from the company responsible - Sky Handling Partner.
Kieran O’Donnell, chairman of the Oireachtas Transport and Communications Committee, said he and his colleagues were “shocked” that bags had been dumped.
“The questions we are now asking is how did this arise, has it happened before, do the owners know? Now it is something we have to follow up on. We have written to Sky Handling Partners today asking them for an immediate response as it is an urgent matter,” he told UTV.
Meanwhile Dublin Airport has said it is working with companies to make sure this doesn’t happen again.
Airport spokesman Graeme McQueen said: “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.
“However, those companies are taking this action for a reason. They are not throwing out bags just because they’ve got too many bags.
“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.”
In a statement Sky Handling’s managing director Darren Moloney said: “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.”
The committee has given ground handlers and airlines two weeks to get luggage back to their owners.
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