In a mid-morning advisory on 13 November, Garda Traffic urged anyone flying out of Dublin Airport that afternoon to budget for the day’s worst congestion between 15:00 and 20:00. Police motorcycle escorts were scheduled to shepherd nearly 40 motorcades from the Convention Centre to either Dublin Airport or Casement Aerodrome following the close of the informal EU Council lunch. Unlike Thursday, when incoming convoys were staggered over 12 hours, Friday’s departures are tightly bunched. The result, Gardaí warned, would be intermittent closures of the Dublin Port Tunnel northbound bore, sections of the M1 and perimeter roads including Naul Road. The R108 viewing point popular with plane-spotters was closed “for operational reasons.” Dublin Airport Authority nonetheless confirmed that flight schedules would run normally and that air-side operations were unaffected. Airlines sent SMS alerts recommending a three-hour air-side buffer for short-haul and four hours for long-haul departures. Travel-management companies told Global Mobility News that corporate travellers with evening connections through London or Amsterdam risked mis-connects if caught in surface delays. Many rebooked onto earlier shuttles or opted for the less affected Belfast International route plus rail to Dublin the previous night. Gardaí promised rolling Twitter/X updates and said cordons would be dismantled “as soon as operationally feasible” once the final foreign delegation cleared Irish airspace, expected shortly after 22:00.
Source: The Irish Wire
