WHAT has the chaos at Dublin Airport and the smoking ban got in common? They are both part of the same sick ideology which will eventually rob us of whatever liberty we have left.

At times last month, Dublin Airport ceased to function in the purpose for which it was built. People simply couldn’t get on to an airplane. Many, many others were inconvenienced beyond the point where they surely regretted making their journey.

The reason for this was that the Airport failed a security check by some eurocrats. After the little boys who now run our country got their slap on the bum they immediately went into hysterical obedience mode. This involves parking whatever common sense you were brought up with in order to sate the insane need to impose safety and security on everyone.

Let’s assume the latest security neurosis started on 11th September 2001. Quite a few passengers passed through Dublin Airport since then without any of them hijacking or blowing up a plane. Therefore in hindsight, the only true science, the security was adequate.

And then suddenly, one day, it wasn’t. Security was upgraded immediately. There are a couple of points to be made here.

Firstly, no security can ensure that a bomb can’t be brought on to an airplane. None. Ever. The only sure way to stop a bomb getting on a plane is to stop people getting on a plane.

Secondly, and following on from the first point, security has got to be set at a level which will stop the average nutter getting on a plane while at the same time allowing civil aviation to continue. I’ll concede that.

That’s not what happened at Dublin Airport. The security was upgraded without the resources to do so. That was a foolish and pointless decision. Why not wait until more personnel had been trained?

The Americans, for example, have decided that biometric passports are essential for their security. But biometric passports don’t exist yet. Therefore, the American have decided not to ground all civil aviation until reliable biometric passports become available. They have decided to live with the risk. And this is precisely the idea that many people in Ireland can’t now seem to understand.

Life is a risk.

The demented pursuit of eliminating risk will make life intolerable, as many who were trapped at Dublin Airport have now had demonstrated to them.

The new security arrangements which were introduced with no consideration for the passengers did not eliminate risk. They merely reduced the risk, by how much – we don’t know, and if actually required – we don’t know.

If prisoners at maximum security jails have to be strip searched for security, then why not strip search passengers getting on an aeroplane. Why not take a torch to everyone getting on a plane and aim it where the sun don’t shine? Surely, bombers are every bit as devious and determined as maximum security prisoners?

The Irish people, like a bunch of sheep, cheered on the smoking ban simply to get fresh air in the pub, without reckoning on the transfer of power from the individual to the state entailed in that diktat.

What happened is that every bureaucratic despot and crank in Ireland has been empowered and personal freedom has become an afterthought. I hope you are all happy now.

As for Osama – he must be having a good laugh. Dublin Airport paralysed and no bombs required at all.