RYANAIR CEO Michael O'Leary has accused the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) of scaremongering.
He slammed the group for issuing daily Covid "scare stories" and said they should be focused on informing the public about on daily vaccination figures instead.
"Part of this is the NPHET daily press conference trying to terrify the population," O'Leary said speaking to RTÉ's Morning Ireland.
"NPHET and the Chief Medical Officer [Dr Tony Holohan], if he was doing his job properly, should be holding a daily press conference announcing the number of people who've been vaccinated, not issuing scare stories about the numbers of people in hospital.
"He's the Chief Medical Officer and he should be dealing with the vaccine.
"Vaccination is the way out of this Covid crisis, not these failed lockdowns," he added.
Mr O'Leary has been a fervent critic of lockdowns and travel restrictions ever since they were first introduced in March last year.
Despite the current ban on non-essential travel in Ireland, O'Leary says he believes Irish people will be able to go on summer holidays again from July.
He added that his airline won't be asking passengers for proof of a Covid-19 vaccination prior to board - an initiative that could become commonplace in international travel moving forward.
"We'll be asking the Government and NPHET to get the finger out and accelerate the vaccine programme in this country and to vaccinate the high-risk groups which is the only way we're going to come out of Covid-19.
"Not more failed lockdown."
He added: "The reality is that the UK will have vaccinated 50% of their population, everybody over 50 by the end of March. Ireland needs to catch up, hopefully by the end of June."
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