The first batch of 101 Kosovar refugees to leave Ireland arrived safely in their home villages last night, after a day-long journey starting from Shannon Airport.
On arrival at Pristina Airport, the refugees were transported to the main urban centres in Kosovo, from where they were taken to their home villages and towns by minibus.
The operation, organised by the International Organisation for Migration and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, appeared to go smoothly, although many refugees said they expected to find their homes destroyed and their possessions looted.
The group is largely made up of families drawn from most of the refugee reception centres around Ireland. It includes a three-week-old child born last month in Tralee, and a 90-year-old woman who is recovering from an operation for gangrene. She was carried on to the aircraft on a stretcher yesterday.
The Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Ms Liz O'Donnell, was in Shannon together with officials of her department and the Refugee Agency to see the group off.
Ms O'Donnell acknowledged that those leaving were facing into "enormous difficulty" and some might find the living conditions at home would be too difficult.
With the assistance of UNHCR and others, the department had made the refugees "fully aware" of the situation on the ground in Kosovo, she said. "I am particularly concerned that the families are aware of the high amount of unexploded ordnance in certain areas, and the difficulties which this presents to NGOs in the delivery of essential medical and sanitary services."
Some 1,033 Kosovars have been housed in Ireland, and more are expected to fly home in the coming weeks.
Of yesterday's contingent 44 had been accommodated in Killarney, and 31 came from Kildare; 14 from Tralee; 10 in Millstreet and two in Cork city.
The numbers scheduled to travel yesterday fluctuated up to the last moment, as families assessed conditions in their local areas to decide whether it was safe to return.
The department offered all refugees the possibility of a "look and see" visit to assess conditions in their homeland. Heads of families who took up the offer are entitled to return to Ireland within two months (at their own cost) and either remain here or return with their families. However, only five people in the current group are travelling on this basis. The rest will not be allowed to return to Ireland.
Before leaving Shannon yesterday the refugees were paid repatriation grants of £600 per adult and £300 per child.
Ireland is to the fore among Western countries in organising voluntary repatriation of Kosovars directly to Pristina Airport. The first such flight, organised by IOM and the UNHCR, left Switzerland earlier this week. Before this, most refugees have entered through Skopje Airport in neighbouring Macedonia before being transported onwards to Kosovo.
The heaviest burden of sheltering the refugees from the war in Kosovo fell on its neighbours. Around 715,000 refugees have returned from neighbouring countries over the past two months. A further 31,000 have returned to Kosovo from other countries. An EU Commission study estimates that of over 200,000 houses surveyed, almost 120,000 have been either totally destroyed or significantly damaged.