Another day, another dilemma for Irish abroad

THOUSANDS of Irish are today facing the prospect of another 24 hours stranded in destinations as diverse as Moldova, Paris, Copenhagen, Kosovo and the Maldives, despite airports being given the green light to operate last night.

But for one group of holidaymakers the ash cloud-induced airport shutdown has more than a hint of a silver lining.

Last Wednesday, Diarmuid O’Mahony, 25, from Ballydehob in west Cork flew into Las Vegas from Belfast with a small group of colleagues to celebrate their Derry friend Seamus Hampson’s 30th birthday.

The group were due to end their five-night stay in Sin City on Monday.

However, due crisis the holidaymakers are effectively stranded in most people’s dream north American location.

“There’s been some gambling and some drinking and having an Irish accent with American women equals good times, but we all have work and we’re trying to get home,” Diarmuid explained.

“An air hostess said she might be able to bring us on free tickets to Alaska so we could be a step closer, but we’re going to stick with trying to get to Newark in New York with Continental airlines.

“We’re booked on the next available flight from there to Belfast, but the problem is everything is being delayed,” he said, adding that with unfinished work waiting at home, he understood the phrase “you can have too much of a good thing”.

Their extended stay in Las Vegas was one of the more positive stories yesterday for thousands of would-be Irish airplane passengers.

As the crisis extended into a sixth day, hundreds of stranded holidaymakers were pooling resources to book coaches to take them on lengthy journeys across mainland Europe.

To cope with demand, Paddywagon Tours has organised scheduled journeys from Milan, Geneva, London, Barcelona and Paris to bring passengers to the French coast.

A 160-strong battalion of Irish troops stranded in Kosovo after a planned return journey from peacekeeping work became the latest victim of the crisis. The mission, drawn mostly from battalions based in Dublin and Dundalk, is one of the last major deployments overseas, with the peace-enforcement mission in Chad expected to return in the summer.

Telefónica O2 Ireland has confirmed it will waive charges for all text messages from customers stranded abroad.