Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney says it's 'utterly unacceptable'.
European leaders will discuss possible sanctions on Belarus later, after a Ryanair flight was forced to divert to Minsk so opposition blogger Roman Protasevich could be arrested.
The plane - which was going from Italy to Lithuania - was escorted by fighter jets after reports it had explosives on board, but none were found.
Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney says it's 'utterly unacceptable' and a strong and united response from the EU is needed as it was an Irish airline with EU citizens on board.
Svetlana Tsikhanouskaya is an exiled opposition leader - she outlines how the flight was landed:
This man was on the flight - he describes what happened onboard:
Minister Simon Coveney says sanctions are likely to be taken against Belarus:
While the CEO of Ryanair says one of its planes was subject to a 'state sponsored hijack'.
Mullingar's Michael O’Leary says it was scary for all on board:
Flights between Europe and Asia are still going over Belarus.
Tom Tugendhat is a British MP - he believes flights should be diverted from over Belarus:
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