PASSENGERS TRAVELLING THROUGH Dublin Airport will not be able to bring liquids more than 100ml with them in their hand luggage from 1 September, despite DAA investing to install new scanners for the public to do so.

Temporary restrictions will kick in at the end of this week following a European Commission probe into potential flaws with ‘C3 scanner’ technology.

Dublin Airport’s operators, DAA, have said it takes passenger safety seriously and those arriving at the airport should expect to see changes to the security system from Sunday 1 September 

The airport operators have outlined that there will be slightly different rules, depending on which terminal the passengers pass through.

•  In Terminal 1, all liquids must be under 100mls, must put into a clear 1 litre bag and placed visibly within the security tray. Each passenger is limited to one 1 litre bag only. Large electrical items must be removed from bags.

• In Terminal 2, all liquids must be under 100mls, put into a clear bag, and placed visibly in the security tray. However, in Terminal 2 there is no limit on the number of bags or 100mls containers that a passenger can take through, while all electrical items can be left in hand luggage.

While the measure it a temporary restriction, the European Commission has yet to provide a date to when these limitations will be lifted.

A spokesperson for DAA said: “We hope that these temporary restrictions are only in place for a short period and that the EU will be able to lift them as soon as possible.”

They added that passengers can follow any updates on the airport’s social media channels and websites. 

On Tuesday the European Commission said that there are no faults with the new machines but added that it does have significant concerns, following a report in May, over the effectiveness of the machines to detect discrepancies in liquid over 330mls.

A spokesperson for the European Commission added on Tuesday that the institution has yet to receive any updates from the manufactures to quell their concerns over alleged flaws in the new x-rays.

This will only impact airports with C3 scanners, and only a few in the EU have installed them so far – so most customers will likely have already planned to only bring 100ml bottles of liquid with them in their hand luggage.

Passengers will now be required to pack 100ml bottles in sealed, plastic bags and remove all devices from their luggage, as was the method before, while the temporary restrictions are in place.

In a statement this afternoon, a spokesperson for DAA said that passengers should be prepared to remove all liquids, aerosols and gels from their hand luggage when passing through security over the next number of weeks.

In May, DAA said it was in the process of installing the final 35 C3 scanners, to replace all of their old x-ray machines, across both terminals.

The DAA’s advice remained the same at the time – passengers should still only pack 100ml bottles in sealed, plastic bags in their hand luggage and be prepared to remove devices, in case one of the C3 scanners was not available for them.

A European airport lobby group, Airports Council Europe, has criticised the restrictions and said they unfairly punish airports that have decided to invest the in the new technology and claims the machines can  cost eight times more than older scanners.

The head of the lobby group, Olivier Jankovec, said: “The decision to now impose significant restrictions to their use questions the trust and confidence the industry can place in the current EU certification system for aviation security equipment.”