In a report for the Pat Kenny Show, Newstalk reporter Kyle Butler was at Dublin airport and spoke to passengers at arrivals about their unexpected adventures in the Middle East.
Nearly 200 people were returned to Dublin from the Middle East on a government-chartered flight from Oman.
Irish citizens on the Government's first chartered flight from the Middle East expressed their relief at arriving back home in Ireland.
The flight landed at Dublin Airport from Oman just before 5am with 194 passengers on board, 180 of which being Irish citizens.
In a report for the Pat Kenny Show, Newstalk reporter Kyle Butler was at Dublin airport and spoke to passengers at arrivals about their unexpected adventures in the Middle East.
“It's been very long but everybody's home safe and sound. That's all that matters”, a woman said.
“It’s just been a journey to get here”, a traveller added.
“We left Dubai 52 hours ago to make this journey. It's been a journey.
“You're getting these alerts on your phone and you're told to stay in and take cover and you're going down to a basement of a hotel and then a little while later they say, right, go back to normal”.
She noted that military aircraft were going over their heads “every five minutes”.
“The UAE government did an incredible job taking care of everybody. They really, really did. When you see the military statistics of what they're intercepting, it's absolutely incredible”, she told Newstalk.
She explained to reporter Kyle Butler that it was a cycle of uncertainty, not knowing what was ogng to happen and looking at her phone to keep track of “very uncertain times”.
Pictured Anna Gallagher as she meets her mum Patricia Gallagher. Picture by: Leah Farrell. The Department of Foreign Affairs has confirmed that 1500 people have returned on commercial flights in recent days and the minister is urging Irish citizens to register their presence.
Passengers had been accommodated overnight and the Department of Foreign Affairs absorbed the cost. Older people, children and those with medical issues were prioritised for those flights.
Passengers paid €800 for the cost of the flight, children under the age of 16 travelled free.
Host Pat Kenny noted that the Government was not going to be scheduling anymore paid-for repatriation flights anymore.
Sinead O'Carroll, editor of TheJournal.ie said despite the ongoing tensions, the relationship between Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Ireland would prevail.
She cited a piece from the Sunday Independent describing the love affair between the United Arab Emirates and Irish people as “extremely strong”.
Despite this, it remains unclear how long tensions in the region will remain.
In a statement, Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee said that while the situation remained “volatile” in the golf the return of citizens would be “an immense relief for their friends and families”.
To date, 18’000 Irish citizens in the Gulf region have registered with the Department of Foreign Affairs and five commercial Emirates flights have transported citizens from Dubai to Dublin.
Main Image: Pictured passengers arriving back from Dubai in Dublin airport. Picture by: Leah Farrell.
