Around 30,000 members of the Brazilian community in Ireland have signed a petition calling for a direct flight between Ireland and the South American country.
Dublin Airport said 140,000 people departing from there last year cited their final destination as Brazil, showing the demand for such a service.
The Department of Transport has said it is open to negotiating a bilateral air service agreement between Ireland and Brazil, while the Brazilian Ambassador to Ireland said it could open Ireland up to other destinations in South America.
The 2022 census recorded 27,000 Brazilians living in Ireland but research by the Brazilian embassy suggest the real figure is closer to 60,000 because of the large numbers that have come to work and study here since the 1990s.
Fernanda Otero, from the group Casa Brazil started the petition.
She said she was shocked when it attracted 30,000 signatures but that direct flights could transform the lives of Brazilians living here
"We have to go either to France, Amsterdam, Spain, Germany or Portugal," she said.
"We have a huge Brazilian community living in Ireland and these people have family.
"So if their family wants to come and visit them, we are talking about older or elderly people, that don't have the language to just go into whatever country border and explain they are travelling.
"This makes it difficult for them to come, because we are asked in every border, especially now we are living in these crazy times, migrants are targets everywhere.
"It's so stressful."
Lack of direct flights a barrier to family visits
Her son Gaudie, 28, who has lived in Ireland for two years is sharing lunch with her in the Tia Maria restaurant in Dublin's north inner city.
He said the lack of direct flights is a barrier to family visits.
"I heard of people spending three days in random corners of the world to go to Brazil," he said.
"It's very difficult for us to be able to only see our relatives and our families, once a year at most, due to the price, due to the exhaustion of the trip.
"It's definitely pretty inconvenient."
Dublin Airport said there is an appetite among carriers to service this route, but that the passenger cap and the lack of a bilateral agreement are the main barriers.
However Sarah Ryan, Director of Communications at daa said they would do everything in their power to help establish flights from Dublin to Brazil, which she says accounts for the second largest number connections cited by those travelling from Dublin after India, a market they are also interested in servicing.
"We know there's huge demand for it," she said.
"The data shows about 140,000 passengers connected through Dublin Airport onto other routes going to Brazil last year.
"That's up 20% versus by 2019. We've seen that growing demand over the years so we are up for it.
"There are two challenges right now. We need a bilateral agreement between the two countries.
"The other challenge is obviously the cap. If an airline is to come into Ireland and start to offer that direct Brazil route, they need to have certainty."
"We want to go from home to home."
The Department of Transport says Ireland and Brazil do not currently have a bilateral air service agreement, but that if carriers are interested in providing services, it would be happy to engage with Brazilian authorities with a view to negotiating such an agreement.
Route would give Ireland greater connections - Brazil's Ambassador
That is a statement welcomed by Brazil's Ambassador to Ireland, who says such a route could give Ireland greater connections with other South American countries and a growing Brazilian economy.
Flávio Helmond Macieira said a technical agreement would be required by the two countries to establish a direct route but that it would mean a lot to the Brazilians living in Ireland who initiated this petition themselves.
"Of course it's possible to go to Brazil from Ireland, it's not a difficult trip, but it is more annoying if you have to change plane in some place.
"If you have a direct flight to Brazil, you can have more facilities to go to other Latin American countries, the other cities in Brazil.
"There is a new cycle in the Brazilian economy, and we expect much more presence of companies. So the market is there," he added.
But for Ms Otero, direct flights between Dublin and Brazil would make it easier for her to show her parents and grandmother the place she and her family have now settled.
"This is home. We want to go from home to home.
"To us this would mean a lot because we want to bring the people we love to see the country we love as well.
"This would be very good."
