There were celebrations and relief for a second night in a row at Dublin Airport with the arrival of the first planes from Dubai since war broke out in the Middle East.
People who had been working in the United Arab Emirates for several years as well as some holidaymakers were among the hundreds who landed home.
Dubai has been hit by missiles amid the conflict between Iran and the US and Israel, including explosions at the city's airport and the Fairmont Hotel, and it has also been impacted by widespread air space closures in the Middle East.
Many of the people on the flight were both overjoyed and relieved to be back on Irish soil.
Eoin Dooghan, who lives in Dundalk, was waiting for his daughter Jane who was transiting through Dubai, having spent almost five months in Australia.
Her mother, Anne, had flown out to meet her last Thursday.
Their hotel was not far from the Fairmont hotel that was set on fire.
Mr Dooghan said he was very relieved when they got tickets for the flight.
"I convinced my mum to meet me half-way on the way home, so I think I'll be apologising to her for a while now," Jane said.
She added that the noise of fighter jets and alarms going off on the phone and having to run down to the hotel lobby had been a lot to cope with.
"It was like a bad dream," Anne said.
Helen Dunnebarron was waiting for her sister, Ruth, and her new brother-in-law, Cathal, to come back from their honeymoon in Australia.
Carrying purple balloons and a sign that read 'Mr and Mrs', Ms Dunnebarron said: "It's a fine start to a new marriage. We've been worried about them and we're glad to get them home."
Cathal Lynch said the honeymoon in Australia had been brilliant but after they transited through Dubai, they said the communication had been difficult.
"We were told that people stuck in transit would be the first out but we never heard anything."
They said they had spent eight hours every day trying to contact the airline for information.
Mary-Kate White from Co Down had a tearful reunion with her sister Dympna, who landed with her husband Hughie Mackin.
They had gone on holiday to Dubai to celebrate Dympna's 40th birthday and they both burst into tears as they were reunited.
Megan O'Riordan said she had been resident in Dubai for the last three years now but added that she no longer wanted to return to work there but her company had been very co-operative.
"It's been a little bit surreal, but the Government has been really good at keeping us up-to-date and the Irish Embassy as well," she said.
Where she is based on the outskirts of Dubai, Megan said they had seen a lot of missiles being intercepted as they were heading towards military bases in Abu Dhabi.
Collecting her from the airport her dad Michael said: "It's been very worrying from the news that Dubai itself is under attack. Just to get her home is the important thing, where she feels safe."
Megan said she was looking forward to catching up on lots of sleep.
Kasia Sieniawska, who is originally from Poland, was waiting to greet her husband Kuba, along with their one-year-old son Kyle.
Kuba said he was overjoyed to see his son again.
"It’s very hard to describe but I'm just so happy."
He said he had initially thought that the attacks were fireworks before he realised they were drones exploding with loud bangs.
He had also witnessed rescue teams heading towards where the hotel was on fire.
Kasia said: "The first night was awful because we didn't know what was really going on.
"I was just so worried, checking the news and there were a lot of like AI videos going on which are just not true."
There will be further direct flights from the Middle East landing in Dublin today, including an Irish Government charter flight from Oman which is expected to transport around 280 passengers.
Colette Cummins, from Malahide, who had been visiting family in Dubai, was hugged by work colleagues as she came through arrivals.
"I’m so happy to be home. We were supposed to come on Tuesday but the flight was cancelled," she said.
"It’s great to be home, my sister is not so lucky, she is still there.
"Scary at the beginning. It had eased off but back again today because we got news on the flight of alerts that missiles were coming in again. The situation is escalating again."
Additional reporting: PA
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