Midlands North West MEP Ciaran Mullooly has called on the Irish Government to apologise for delays and refund monies to Irish citizens returning from Dubai and other parts of the UAE as a result of the ongoing war in the Middle East.
The flight was supposed to depart yesterday but has been delayed to this afternoon because of "highly challenging" conditions in the Middle East, the Department of Foreign Affairs said.
There has been criticism of the government's decision to charge €800 for a seat on the chartered flight and MEP Mullooly pointed out that there was a EU mechanism in place which would have covered up to 75% of costs. A mechanism that was not triggered by the Government until 5.30pm yesterday.
The EU's Emergency Response Coordination Centre also had the capacity to charter planes under rescEU and cover 100% of the costs.
Speaking to Galway Bay FM News, MEP Mullooly said the government had the chance to charter EU Flights under EU funding since last Monday and didn't do so.
