A 9-year-old girl has been returned to her Dublin home, 22 months after she was taken to her father's native Portugal.

Ellie Silva landed back at Dublin Airport last night with her stepfather Philip Gannon.

She was looking forward to being reunited with her mother, her little sister and the twin baby brothers she has never met.

After a long battle, a judge in Faro ruled just over a week ago that Ellie had to be returned home to her mother's custody.

Philip Gannon says they took every precaution they could to make sure that her father let her come home: