"Oh Jesus, " said one young woman, examining the queue for her flight that was on the verge of snaking out the door. "Excuse me, " shrilled another woman to an intrepid queue-skipper.

"We were here first." There was no holding back on tempers as those who should have been happy to be escaping the farce that has been the Irish summer dealt with the stress of getting to their chosen destination on the busiest day of the year.

One family who had little reason to be happy, however, were the Millars from Donaghmede in Dublin. "We've just found out our flight to Boston has been cancelled, " said Mary who, along with her husband Paul and children Sophie (10) and Andrew (8) had planned a twoweek holiday in Cape Cod. "I was there twenty years ago and loved it. My friend spent 1000 on a house in Cork and it just rained on her and the kids for a week. We really wanted to get away but we're not sure what's going to happen now."

Storms on the east coast of America that are set to bring fresh rain to Ireland are said to be the cause for the flight cancellation and the check-in area was filled with disgruntled passengers. "I'm staying calm because I just feel we're going to get out of here, " said Millar. "We have the hotel booked and everything. We're just hoping for the best."

At the opposite end of the airport, there are scenes of jubilation as Josie Keating and Carmel Brennan, along with their husbands and ten other friends from Clondalkin in Dublin, prepared to travel to Benidorm. "I'm absolutely dying for it, " declared Keating. "God, the weather has been just woeful and I've been head-wrecked waiting to get away. Sun, sea and entertainment, that's what we're going for. We won't get that here, that's for sure."

Gordon Bannon and Paul Lynch from Meath have different priorities. They may be going to Crete for a week, but their first destination upon landing was an Irish pub where the Meath-Tyrone match was being screened yesterday.

"We wouldn't miss the match for anything, " said Bannon. "After that, it's all about the drink and the women."

"They're leaving me with all the bags the minute we arrive, " protested Mary Lynch, Paul's mother. "Pub tans, that's all they'll get for the next week." For her, "It's all about the sun."

There is high excitement amongst a group of eight 18 year-olds who are taking their first holiday abroad without parents in tow. "We booked Ayia Napa in November and we're dying for it, " said Grace Power. "We need to relax after the exams."

Back at the Boston check-in, Sophie and Andrew Millar perched on their parent's suitcases and waited for news.

"We had plans to go whale-watching, " said Mary Millar wistfully. "But we'll get there yet."