The disruption comes at the start of Europe's summer holidays, one of the busiest travel periods of the year.

Flights to and from the UK have been cancelled at Dublin, Cork and Shannon Airport

Transport Secretary Mark Harper said it was the worst incident of its kind in ‘nearly a decade’.

The UK's National Air Traffic Service said the disruption would continue for some time even though the issue was fixed.

The UK has applied traffic flow restrictions to maintain safety.

The Dublin-based airline said about 160,000 passengers were impacted by the cancellations

Flights to Lourdes, Nimes, Carcassonne, Nice, Toulouse, Bordeaux and Paris have been cancelled

Over 40,000 passengers were left stranded yesterday after Ryanair was forced to cancel 230 flights