An Irish family in Dubai have said they plan on staying put - despite nearly being hit by falling shrapnel over the weekend. 

Iran has fired hundreds of missiles at the United Arab Emirates and other US allies, in retaliation for US and Israeli strikes. 

So far, three people in the UAE have died and dozens more have been injured. 

On The Claire Byrne Show, Irish woman Roseanne Kenny Scully said she and her husband, their young family and dog had only moved to Dubai last month. 

On Saturday evening, the family decided to venture out but soon decided to head home. 

“We were a little bit on edge, but we decided, look, we should be safe enough maybe to go out for dinner somewhere local,” she recalled. 

“So, we went down to City Walk - it's like an open air mall - and about 6.30pm, we were just sitting down to dinner outside. 

“About 200 metres away, a building was hit and we literally just grabbed the baby and ran as quick as we could, jumped in a taxi to get home and to safety as quick as we could.”

A black plume of smoke rises from a warehouse in the UAE. Picture by: AP Photo/Altaf Qadri.

Afterwards, they learnt it was shrapnel falling to the earth after a missile was intercepted. 

However, Ms Kenny Scully said her family back in Ireland remain “extremely worried about us”. 

On Saturday night, the family got an alert on their phone, ordering them into a shelter. 

“We were in the basement of the building, everybody decided that was the safest place to be down beside the car parks,” she said. 

“So, we brought blankets and pillows and stuff and obviously had the baby and dog and everybody was down there with their families.

“There's great community and the people are absolutely so kind and everybody is so helpful. 

“And they're all helping each other and everybody's in the same situation.”

A black plume of smoke rises from a warehouse in the UAE. Picture by: AP Photo/Altaf Qadri.

Overall, Ms Kenny Scully describes life in Dubai as “absolutely surreal”, but that people are determined to continue as normal as possible. 

“On Sunday, everybody was out in the common areas around the pools and coffee shops, just talking about what was happened,” she said. 

“And you know, everybody's kind of keeping the children calm and playing together - all while missiles are going overhead and being intercepted. 

“You're hearing the loud kind of boom noises, which I believe are the interceptions.”

Please see important consular and political updates below from Minister @HMcEntee on the situation in the Gulf and Middle East pic.twitter.com/u2l493sJzx

— Irish Foreign Ministry (@dfatirl) March 2, 2026

All flights in and out of the city are cancelled until at least Wednesday and the Irish Government has urged citizens not to try and flee by land. 

However, Ms Kenny Scully has no plans yet to leave. 

“I don't know what the situation is with our dog traveling and we won't be going anywhere without her,” she said. 

“So, I think there are certain steps we'd have to take and kind of look into that a lot further. 

“I also might be a little bit afraid to fly right now, given the not knowing everything about the situation. 

“So I think I'd prefer to just stay here where it's feeling relatively calm; I feel we're being very well looked after and I know they have an excellent defence system here.”

Main image: Roseanne Kenny Scully. Image: Supplied.