Similar experiences myself with security, I fly BHX-DUB 2-3 times a month, Monday 8am on EI263, and security is generally 15-20 mins. It actually pays to be a bit later for me so that the morning bucket & spade rush is out of the way. Outside of school holidays I generally don't bother with fast track, even though my FF status allows it, mainly because you are lumped in to a single queue for screening that moves slower than the regular queues IMO usually due to people having liquids/tablets in bags etc. That will be different next year and it'll be fast track for me every time
Of course it was a different story through the summer season and fast track was a must but generally the queues were very managed by staff. I even travelled on some of the days where the media were reporting chaos and it simply wasn't the case, yes there were long queues but they were moving and people were being called out for soon-to-be departing flights.