O'Leary's threat to sue Tony Blair's government for compensation unless it restores security measures at British airports to normal levels within seven days can probably be taken with a grain of salt . . . Ryanair has little interest in getting locked into a legal battle with the British government over compensation that would amount to small beer for an airline of that size. But it is a useful PR tool in his deadly-serious campaign to win the hearts and minds of the British public and convince them that the new airport security measures represent bogus posturing on behalf of securocrats who are little better than "Keystone cops" making it up as they go along.

"There isn't a lot more security. There is a lot of rubbish masquerading as security. It's not more secure, " the Ryanair boss says, adding: "Anyone who tells you, you're more secure, that's just posturing.

It's bulls**t."

His invoking of the Churchill spirit at Friday's London press conference . . . O'Leary was flanked by a look-a-like of the revered war-time prime minister . . . fitted in nicely with his argument that the best way to defeat terrorism is to prevent the breakdown of normal life. The government's measures, O'Leary believes, are handing the terrorists a major victory without them having to do anything.

"They must be rolling around laughing in the caves of Pakistan, " he says with characteristic bluntness.

The Ryanair boss says the security measures, introduced last Thursday week, are "beyond a joke". He questions why it is ok to bring a large briefcase on board a plane, yet a small wheelie case . . . just 25% bigger than the briefcase . . . is deemed a security risk.

"The new weapons of mass destruction are women's toiletries and cosmetics, " he says sarcastically. "Death by toiletries."

O'Leary notes that tubes of toothpaste, cosmetics and bottles of water are being taken from passengers at check-in, yet it is possible to buy all these products in the departure lounge. "It's nonsense." he says. And he wonders why the new security procedures are only in place for outbound flights. If these measures are absolutely necessary, why does the same not hold for those passengers flying into London and getting onto the underground, O'Leary asks.

He is careful not to dismiss a potential security threat to Britain. "I'd take the government at face value. If they have intelligence [that shows a potential threat], we would support the government." However, his point is that the security threat won't be deflected by restricting hand luggage or confiscating liquids, when they can be bought in the departure lounge. "The measures to make arrests and intervene are sensible and good security, " he says, but he believes the handling of the security scare has been "stupid" and "appalling", forcing airports to "break down". The Ryanair boss is also insistent that other airlines agree but will not speak out against the government. "Everybody in the industry will tell you. The airports think it's nuts; the airlines know it's nuts.

The passengers know it's nuts, " he says.

O'Leary recalls that two days after the terrorist attacks on the London Underground a year ago, it was back operating normally . . . a declaration, he believes, of the country's determination to defeat terrorism. He is scathing of last week's meeting of EU security ministers, which allocated 350,000 to research liquid explosives. That amount would not cover "the paper-clip budget" of an EU department, O'Leary says, noting also that none of the other EU ministers announced they would be introducing security measures at airports similar to those in Britain.

He believes the British government will soon have to revert to the normal security procedures which have proved effective for the last 25 years. Much will depend on whether those in custody after last Thursday week's arrests are charged . . . if they are, security measures would probably revert to normal quickly. According to O'Leary, the "big pinch point" will come next weekend . . . a bank holiday.

After two weeks of overtime and volunteers, it will be difficult to sustain the measures. The question is: "How long will it take for ministers to admit they're wrong?"

O'Leary is also dismissive of suggestions from the British Airports Authority that chaos at London Stansted was mainly down to Ryanair refusing to take on more staff. Describing the BAA as "incompetent", he says that last Friday week, the authority was saying that the situation was normal. The BAA spindoctors were "throwing s**t around" having messed up the situation, he said.

IF THERE is any consolation for travellers in the chaos that has beset British airports over the last 10 days, it is that the holiday season is almost over. Soon, fewer passengers will be travelling.

But that's pretty much it in terms of the good news. On the negative side are predictions that the long queues and slow security checks are set to continue, bags will continue to go missing, and if you think that your insurance will cover you adequately in that eventuality, you have another think coming.

The Sunday Tribune has learned that Dublin airport staff are still trying to trace the lost luggage of passengers travelling from Britain to Ireland. John Murphy of Servisair, the company responsible for assisting airlines with baggage and at check-in, said they are "doing all they can to trace lost baggage". He maintains that there have been few difficulties in Ireland with lost luggage, but said he understands passengers travelling via British airports have been reporting that laptops, iPods and mobile phones have been stolen from their luggage. "We are responsible for filing reports on lost luggage, but it is the responsibility of Ryanair and other airlines to make sure supervision and security of baggage is in place, " he said.

The volume of people claiming to have merchandise stolen from their luggage was first brought to public attention early last week. RTE's Liveline was flooded with calls from people who checked-in expensive items at the airport, only to later find empty laptop bags, earphones dangling from their bag, with no iPod attached, and mobile phones missing.

There is little to reassure people that they will receive compensation on items that go missing. Don Rafter, the manager of Justcover. ie travel insurance company, told the Sunday Tribune: "At the moment, there are no new directives on laptop coverage, we don't cover any electronic devices like mobiles, iPods and definitely not expensive items like laptops." He did say that if people's bags go missing they will be compensated, but said "coverage is only for personal items. Any very expensive items might have to be covered under home insurance."

When asked if there might be any changes to the insurance policies in light of new baggage restrictions, Rafter said:

"There will likely be administrative changes from what has happened over the last 10 days. What's happening is unprecedented, and I could see laptops being included in insurance cover, but I can't predict for certain what will happen."

Some major players in the insurance industry were discussing last week what changes might be made, but it has emerged that no definite alterations to their policies are yet decided on. Carmel Mulroy, public-affairs manager at the Irish Insurance Federation, said it was "currently not the intention of insurers to amend policy wordings, as it is not viewed to be necessary, particularly in light of the relaxation of the rules introduced immediately after the security alert".

Despite this statement, British airports have had no significant reduction on security. Items such as water bottles, toothpaste and, especially, electronic devices are still being banned by all airports in the UK, and there are still major delays, all of which means baggage is still piling up and the limited staff is under pressure to cope with the excess volume.

A spokesman for the British Airports Authority (BAA) at Heathrow airport told the Sunday Tribune that the numbers of staff supervising bags was a concern and said British Airways was receiving the most complaints at Heathrow. For Irish passengers waiting on lost bags, however, a British Airways spokesperson had some positive news. "Lost bags should be returning to their owners shortly, " he said. "The week's worth of disruption has had a major impact on the baggage system. It has increased the demand on our staff. We had 5,000 bags waiting to go back to their owners yesterday, but that has been reduced to 700."

The volume of bags has also caused a disruption to flights, said the British Airways spokesman. "We have been struggling, because the bags have been backed up, and yes, there have been cancellations to some flights because of it."

Stansted airport was meanwhile having troubles of its own. "The airport has been chaotic, " said a BAA spokeswoman there. She acknowledged that people were concerned about the security of baggage, but blamed the chaos mainly on Ryanair's refusal to take on more staff. In order to cope with extra baggage, BAA had been forced to pay for extra staff on Ryanair flights, especially to cope with "peak periods".

For passengers who hope to have easy passage through British airports this week, BAA has warned: "It could be several days or weeks before we are back to normal." They have been managing to get people through security in a "reasonably fast time", the spokeswoman said. "Without us helping Ryanair, there would be flight delays."