Asleep at the wheel. Did you pay €800.00 to get back from Dubai – It should have been free but Ireland’s Department of Foreign affairs never triggered the mechanism.

Department Of Foreign Affairs has been accused of being asleep at the wheel.

For Irish Citizens Stranded in Dubai and for those who paid €800.00 to get home, that flight should have been free. But the Department of Foreign Affairs were asleep at the wheel, according to Ciaran Mullooly MEP.

URGENT : If you have a relative or a friend presently stranded in Dubai or elsewhere in UAE this is hugely IMPORTANT – the @EU_Commission has offered funding for 40 flights of repatriation to Italians , Belgians , French and the citizens of of 17 other countries since last Monday… pic.twitter.com/PIfwBBdZel

— Ciaran Mullooly MEP (@ciaranmullooly) March 6, 2026

How It Works

1. Activation — A national authority (e.g., a Member State’s government) formally requests assistance via the Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) in Brussels, which operates 24/7 as the operational hub.
   
2. Coordination — The ERCC assesses needs, mobilizes resources from participating countries (via the European Civil Protection Pool), and coordinates deployments.
   
3. EU Role and Funding — The European Commission plays a central coordinating role and co-finances transport and operational costs (often up to 75-100% in certain cases, depending on the scenario and availability of alternatives). This includes covering costs for chartered flights or other logistics when commercial options are unavailable or insufficient.
   
4. Special Support for Consular/Evacuation Cases — EU Member States and participating states can activate it specifically for consular support to their citizens, such as during evacuations or repatriations in crises (e.g., conflicts, natural disasters, or travel disruptions). This has been used for assisted departures and repatriation flights.
   
   
   

Video Transcript:

“Hi there, just after seven o’clock on Friday evening. I’m coming on to give you an update on something that’s breaking with regard to our Irish citizens who are stranded in the UAE, particularly those stranded in Dubai.You will know, of course, that the situation in the Middle East is very dangerous and very challenging.

But what I did not realize until the last 24 hours is that the EU have indeed been working to support countries whose citizens have been stranded there. Dozens of people have been in touch with my constituency office here in the Midlands and the Northwest, asking for assistance.

Earlier today, I contacted the European Commissioner responsible for the emergency mechanism operated by the EU to support countries, and I discovered that 20 member states in the EU have now activated a mechanism which basically means they can charter flights from the UAE to Europe.

The cost is zero—the costs will be covered 100% by the European Union in a case where no other capacity is available. And I can tell you, because of this situation in Europe, no, that capacity is available.So it was confirmed to me that Italy entered into the process last Monday, Belgium on Tuesday, France on Wednesday.

But at 3 o’clock this afternoon, when I contacted the Commissioner, Ireland had not triggered the mechanism. Yet again, we’re asleep at the wheel.I raised this issue immediately with the Department of Foreign Affairs as an explanation as to what was going on—why this hadn’t happened. And just before six o’clock this evening, I got a phone call back from the Commissioner’s office in Brussels to confirm that Ireland has now triggered the mechanism—five days later, and three hours after we told them that it was there.

We were one of the last countries in Europe to do this once again. I mean, this is just not acceptable. It’s not good enough at a time of great distress for an awful lot of people.I understand our consular staff around the Middle East are under severe pressure. But our people in the Irish government in Dublin have to make decisions when it comes to this emergency mechanism.

We’re not making them where we are delaying them, and as a result of that, people are experiencing further difficulty, further hardship. And not to mention, some people also experienced an extra cost—because remember, some people have been charged 800 euros to get back from Dubai.

That cost should be covered under the mechanism EU procedure, which I’ve outlined and will outline with this post in the text below.I’ll just say one thing finally: that the Taoiseach and Minister of Foreign Affairs need to apologize to people for this tardy behavior.

Once again, we have dragged our heels, were asleep at the wheel, and we owe an apology and a reimbursement to some people of money they paid. But above all, we need to move much quicker to get our people home and get them home safe. You’ll be hearing more from me on this in the European Parliament in the coming days.”