The behaviour of a 24-year-old Irishman forced the captain of a Boeing 737 to leave the cockpit to assess the situation on an Aer Europa flight from Malaga to Dublin last Sunday. The pilot then decided to land in Madrid.

An eyewitness, Ms Patricia Carr, from Kilcool, Co Wicklow, now thinks passengers should be breathalysed before boarding a plane.

"I would feel drink should be taken out of airports and aeroplanes and I really think they should be breathalysed before getting on board because of the risk. People are breathalysed in cars because they can cause so much damage but obviously there are less lives at stake than there would be in a plane," she said.

"My niece was behind me and she was in tears - a lot of people were. The thing I remember was the sweat on my hands, I couldn't get them dry. No matter how much I tried to dry them, they were wet again," she added.

"All the air hostesses were very worried looking, which is very worrying when you're a passenger."

After appearing in a Madrid court on Monday, the man was released on provisional liberty.

Ms Carr continued: "I really think the penalty should be extremely stiff. This fellow wasn't on the number 39 bus.

"He should be named and we should know who he is. He should be fined because it always hurts hard when it hits people's pockets - otherwise they will continue to get away with it.

"He was extremely violent, aggressive and abusive. People like him give Irish people a bad name and that shouldn't be allowed to continue."