Ryanair has urged the Government to call in the Army in order to address lengthy security queues at Dublin Airport.
Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary said: "We propose that 200 members of the Army be called in to help do the patting down at security screening.
"That would free up security staff to open up more security screens."
Ryanair has also called on the Department of Transport to hold an emergency meeting of the National Air Transport Facilitation Committee about the lengthy queues at the airport.
Passengers have experienced lengthy delays at peak times over recent weeks, with airport operator daa advising passengers to expect this to continue for the coming weeks.
It has advised passengers to arrive a number of hours in advance.
Ryanair has called for a meeting of NATFAC in order to provide "rapid effective" solutions to the problem, which the airline says will emerge again this weekend and over the Easter holidays.
A spokesperson for the airline said it, and passengers, "cannot endure more weekends where thousands of customers suffer queue delays of one or two hours, causing many to miss their scheduled flights".
"The Department of Transport must take responsibility for helping the daa to solve this short-term staffing problem," they added.
The daa has blamed the delays on a "log jam" caused by the recruitment and training of new staff following the collapse of international travel over the past two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Chief Executive of the daa, Dalton Philips, has said there are currently 600 officers in the security division, but staff levels need to reach 900.
Ryanair said that it was "unacceptable" that the department has not held a meeting of the committee, when "urgent action is needed to avoid travel chaos".
"There is a major short-term problem with staffing at Dublin Airport, and it is the Minister for Transport's responsibility to intervene at times of crisis such as this by calling an urgent meeting of NATFAC to agree solutions to what we hope will be these short-term but unacceptable security queues at Dublin Airport."
Meanwhile, Minister of State at the Department of Transport Hildegarde Naughton met management at the airport this afternoon to discuss the queues.
They have agreed to set up a daily crisis management meeting on the situation and will monitor the issues over the coming weeks
Airport management gave an update on the measures taken to alleviate the problems and the plans to recruit more staff.
They said that the situation has improved since last week, but that passengers are still facing "excessive times" at peak hours.
It was the second meeting on the issue this week. Ms Naughten also discussed the situation with the airlines and other stakeholders.
Passengers urged to arrive earlier than normal
Dublin Airport Media Relations Manager Graeme McQueen said that a number of passengers who missed flights due to security delays are engaging with its customer service team.
Speaking to RTÉ's Drivetime, Mr Mulqueen said that "very limited numbers" had missed flights this week due to delays.
"Anyone who has a legitimate case, who has missed a flight due to security delays, our customer service team are working with them at the moment," he said.
This weekend, it anticipates 20-25% higher passenger numbers this weekend, compared to last weekend.
It is anticipated that this will rise even further over the Easter period.
He added: "The advice from us here in Dublin Airport is to get here as early as you can. We are telling passengers to be there around three-and-a-half hours minimum before your flight.
"If you're parking the car, probably allow another 30 minutes on top of that, but give yourself plenty of time. It is going to be busy. You've got to expect that."
Additional reporting: Sinead Spain
