Seat on Oman-Dublin government charter flight to cost €800

A seat on an Irish government chartered flight from Oman to Dublin will cost €800 (£695).

Children can travel for free and elderly citizens or those with medical conditions will be prioritised, according to the Irish embassy in the United Arab Emirates.

Thousands of people from the UK and Republic of Ireland have been unable to leave the Middle East after US-Israeli strikes on Iran prompted retaliatory strikes by Tehran across the region.

In contrast, each seat on a flight chartered by the UK government from Oman to Britain cost £350, passengers said.

The flight was supposed to depart on Friday but has been delayed to Saturday afternoon because of "highly challenging" conditions in the Middle East, the Department of Foreign Affairs said.

The Irish government has defended the charge, with Foreign Affairs Minister Helen McEntee saying the price of the flight is "substantially reduced compared to the overall cost".

Sinn Féin politician Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire criticised the cost.

"The last thing we want to see is people not being able to access a repatriation flight because they are worried they can't afford it," he said.

As well as vulnerable people, the first chartered flight will focus on bringing home Irish passengers who got stuck while in transit.

The Irish Embassy in the UAE is also in contact with a "small number" of Irish people living in Iran, most of who have lived there for many years.

However, McEntee told the Dáil (lower house of Irish parliament) on Thursday nearly all of them had said they did not want to leave the region.

She also said she expected more direct commercial flights to Dublin in the coming days.

The first passengers to arrived back in the Republic of Ireland from the UAE landed at Dublin Airport from Dubai on Wednesday night.

They described how happy they were to return home.

The Emirates flight, which had almost 400 passengers on board, was the first in a number of days after the United States-Israeli attacks on Iran led to the closure of nearly all airspace in the Middle East.

Rushali Lakhani said she was "very happy" and "very grateful" to be back.

"It was quite a stressful time but grateful and thanking our lucky stars really," said Lakhani.

She said it was "quite nerve-racking, we couldn't really sleep much".

"A lot of sleepless nights, a lot of bangs. There were no airplanes flying so whenever we heard some noises we knew that it wasn't good news."

Another passenger, Norita Geary, said: "Everyone clapped when the plane landed and we all cheered."

"It was unreal. I mean you see these things on television, you see them in movies but you just don't think you'll end up there yourself," the County Limerick woman added.

Susan and Monica Miller from County Laois, who were on the first flight, said they were in the airport "when it all kicked off", adding that was "the most traumatic part" as they spent hours queuing to get out of the airport.

"The local UAE fighter jets we could see them patrolling. We could hear some noises but because we were about 30 minutes west of the airport we weren't in any immediate zones that were frightening," Susan said.

She added that they are "thrilled" to be home and that "it is emotional".

"I think it is staycations for a little while."

A second flight directly to Dublin from Dubai landed shortly after 19:00 local time on Thursday, carrying a further 350 passengers.

The family of Dympna and Hughie Mackin from Mayobridge, County Down welcomed the couple home home from the UAE - where the pair had been celebrating Dympna's birthday.

They spent much of the week sheltering in their hotel basement amid missile and drone attacks.

Dympna's cousin Michaela Murphy said they would give the pair another birthday party now they had returned safely.

So far 25,000 Irish citizens in the region have registered with the Department of Foreign Affairs - 2,000 of them have said they want to leave.

The Irish Embassy in the UAE thanked all those had registered but warned that registration is not an expression of interest in a flight.

Meanwhile, a flight chartered by the UK government which had been due to bring back some Britons stranded in the Middle East on Wednesday night has departed after being delayed.

Problems with getting passengers on board meant the plane, due to leave Oman's capital Muscat on Wednesday, had remained grounded.

British citizens stuck in the Middle East have told the BBC there has been a lack of information about available routes to travel home.

The Foreign Office said two more chartered flights would depart by the end of the week.

Foreign Office officials said 138,000 British nationals in the Gulf had registered their presence, of whom 112,000 were in the UAE.