Cork GAA referee's relief after 52-hour trip home from Middle East

After 52 hours of travel, Cork GAA referee Shane Scanlon says he is relieved to be back on home soil, having been stranded in Dubai for almost a week due to air strikes across the Middle East.

He was one of 194 passengers on the Irish Government’s first chartered evacuation flight from the region — travelling from Oman via Cairo — which touched down in Dublin Airport shortly before 5am on Sunday.

Newcestown native Mr Scanlon was in Dubai to officiate at the Middle East GAA hurling league finals, which took place in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Recalling the 52-hour trip to Ireland, Mr Scanlon told The Echo that the travelling group encountered delays crossing the border from the UAE into Oman.

On top of that, the plane bringing nearly 200 people back to Ireland had been delayed on the runway in Cairo in Egypt during a stopover for six hours, as a result of technical issues.

Mr Scanlon, the son of well-known C103 GAA reporter Michael Scanlon, said he was pleased to be back home in Cork following a longer than planned trip to Dubai.

“I am absolutely delighted to be home. I can say that everyone on that plane was thrilled to be back home to see their family and friends,” he told The Echo.

“I’d say everyone was fairly tired when they got into Dublin airport. But it was great for a lot of families to meet up with their loved ones.

“It puts a bit of closure on what has been a very hectic week.

“While the weather might not be as good as it is in Dubai at the minute, it is great to be home , to have the bit of security and safe of mind that all will be well.”

Despite the long trip home, Mr Scanlon said that they were well looked after on the journey.

Foreign affairs minister Helen McEntee said: “It was a challenging journey, in particular for those who travelled over land to Muscat.

“But I am glad that we have been able to directly facilitate the return of nearly 200 people, including a number of children and infants.

“The last week has been incredibly distressing for our citizens in the Gulf.

“The situation remains volatile, with further attacks on the UAE and other Gulf countries today, and on Iran.”

Ms McEntee added: “I would ask any Irish citizens in the Gulf to register their presence in order to give my department the clearest information possible of the situation on the ground. More than 18,000 people have done so since last weekend.

“Any citizen in the Gulf seeking assistance is encouraged to call the consular crisis team in Dublin directly.”

Other Irish people have managed to get indirect flights to Ireland from Abu Dhabi or Dubai through London or Paris over the past week, since the US and Israel began an attack on Iran.

An estimated 14,000 Irish people are living in Dubai, a further 2,000 in Abu Dhabi, and more than 2,000 in both Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile, President Catherine Connolly said events in the Middle East are “deliberate assaults on international law” and must be called out “without euphemism and without equivocation”.