We are the 'laughing stock' of Europe, Ryanair claims as airline launches scathing attack on NPHET

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Ryanair has described the National Public Health Emergency Team and Ireland as "the laughing stock of Europe" as they called for more countries to be added to the so-called 'green list' of countries where it is safe to travel to.

They also criticised health officials for only making facemasks mandatory three months after Ryanair announced they would be required on flights on the low-cost airline.

The airline called on the government, to allow business to resume next month, to add the UK and Germany to the 'green list' and to consider adding other nations such as Portugal, Austria, Poland and Greece.

The 'green list', a spokesperson for Ryanair claimed, has "clearly failed" in preventing the recent surge in Covid-19 cases in the country, with health officials having "spectacularly mismanaged" the pandemic.

“NPHET and Ireland are the laughing stock of Europe," the spokesperson said.

"We have operated the most isolationist travel policy in Europe since 1 July, yet our Covid case rates are now significantly higher than many other EU countries such as Italy and Germany, who removed intra-EU travel restrictions in July and have successfully managed a return of economic activity with much lower Covid case rates than Ireland."

The remarks came as CSO statistics show that over 10.3m fewer passengers used Irish airports in the second quarter of this year, compared to the same period 12 months ago - representing a 98.4% drop.

For the first half of the year, airline passengers fell by 66%, compared to 2019.

"The figures show a dramatic decrease in international travel during Q2 2020," CSO statistician Olive Loughnane said.

"In particular, data for April 2020 shows a fall of 99.2% in passengers handled by Irish airports compared to the same month in 2019. This is associated with restrictions imposed due to Covid-19."