Cash-strapped Belgian teens bed down at airport

A GROUP of Belgian teenagers stranded at Dublin Airport have had to sleep at the airport after being priced out of rooms at a hostel.

The group of 11 have been fed and watered by shops owners as they wait for a flight back to Belgium, while yesterday Airport Police told them they could use their showering facilities.

The members of the Chiro Youth Movement came to Ireland last Monday to hike in the Wicklow Mountains, but like thousands of other passengers affected by the flight ban, their flight home scheduled for last Friday was cancelled.

The youngest member of the group, who hail from Oostneeuwkerke in Flanders, is just 15, while one of the group leaders is aged 21.

Their anxious parents have now wired money so they can buy food, while a fellow Belgian living in Dublin heard of their plight and has offered them accommodation until they can return home.

Group leader Glenn Desempel said on hearing the “bad news” about the flight ban caused by the massive cloud of volcanic ash hovering over Europe, they looked into taking a ferry to Britain or France.

“We considered it but our budget is very limited,” Glenn said, adding that the ferries are now booked up until next Wednesday.

Their search for a hostel also proved fruitless. Glenn said the only option appeared to be a city centre hostel offering rooms for €15 a night, but when they returned the following day to make the booking the rate had increased to €23 a night.

“I called my parents a couple of times and they talked with the parents of the younger members and they are transferring money for food,” Glenn said.

“They are panicked a little bit because we have to go to school tomorrow.”

The group sold cookies to finance the trip and said when they began sleeping in the airport they were given food and drink by people working in some of the airport shops.

“People were very generous,” he said.

Once flights resume they are unlikely to be able to get a flight to Brussels due to the backlog, meaning they still face a trip to Amsterdam in Holland and then a train home.

The Dublin Airport Authority also received praise yesterday from Fine Gael Dublin City Councillor Gerry Breen, who travelled back from Brussels via Eurostar to discover the DAA had waived the additional charges for car parking at the airport.