Almost 100 Irish citizens arrived safely in Dublin airport yesterday morning after being evacuated from Lebanon early on Monday. But for most, the return to Ireland was bittersweet.
"I didn't want to leave, because I love Lebanon," said teenager Laura Kent. "But I understand that I needed to come back, because the situation was escalating and it was very scary. But, I want to go back."
Her mother, Maggie Preston Kent, originally from Co Offaly, is relieved to be home but said she is "terrified" for her British husband, James Kent, who has commitments in Lebanon and couldn't travel with her.
Some 80 Irish citizens left Beirut on a convoy of two buses carrying Irish flags at 6.30am on Monday. They were taken to Syria under escort, accompanied by two medics from the Irish Army Air Corps who had flown over to accompany the group. On Monday night, they arrived in Damascus and were joined by about 16 more Irish citizens. All were flown on a chartered aircraft to Dubai before completing the final leg of the journey to Dublin on a commercial flight.
"The journey was quite sombre, because we didn't know what to expect," said Liam Kinsella (57) from Cork city, who had been working on an EU-funded business development in Lebanon for the past 21 months. "There was a bridge we crossed over on Monday morning and an hour after we passed that bridge was taken out by a bomb.
"Going through Tripoli we passed the Lebanese army base that had been blown up a couple of hours earlier. It was still smouldering, still smoking, there was a lot of debris and people around. That really brought it home for us."
Mr Kinsella says he is in Ireland "on holiday" and plans to return to Lebanon soon for a further 18 months. "But it is a very proud day to be back in Dublin on terra firma, very proud to be Irish and have the tricolour and be a citizen of this country. The Irish Government did a superb job."
Ciarán O'Neill (32), an accountant for Aer Rianta at Beirut International Airport, travelled back to Ireland with his wife Aideen. "It's fantastic to be home," Mr O'Neill, from Dublin, said. "But I hope to get back to Lebanon as soon as possible. We've been there for four years and that's where our lives are. We've left our apartment and our furniture but we've also left really good friends behind."
Child psychologist Colette Murphy, from Co Monaghan, and her husband Fergal had been based in Lebanon for 11 years and had finalised plans to move home when the bombing began. She and her three daughters, Ciara (8), Shauna (5) and Emily (3), travelled with the convoy. Her husband is hoping to begin travelling home today.
"My husband is a quantity surveyor and he was involved in building the infrastructure," said an emotional Ms Murphy. "It's really sad for us to be leaving in these circumstances. We love Lebanon, our three daughters were born there."
Gerard Moran (39), an engineer from Co Cork, said he was annoyed by the circumstances of his return. He had been working with Palestinian refugees as part of an EU-funded project that has now been suspended.
"Things are very bad there and getting worse. How can people be allowed do this? I'm getting really angry because what has happened is absolutely outrageous," Mr Moran said. "We're very worried about the Irish people we've left behind, especially the young armed military observers and their wives and families - they're being bombed mercilessly and it's a desperate situation."
An estimated further 50 Irish citizens are to be evacuated from Beirut this morning where a convoy is due to leave the honorary consulate at 7.30am.