TOUR OPERATOR STAFF:XL PASSENGERS arriving at Dublin airport yesterday morning were handed a letter expressing "regret the inconvenience and disruption this will cause to your holiday arrangements".
It directed passengers to contact the aviation regulator for a refund.
Employees of another company who handed out the leaflets responded to all passenger queries with "no comment".
Speaking on RTÉ radio's News at One yesterday, passenger Greg Barry from Castlebar said the first he had heard of the collapse of the British tour operator was when his mother rang at 8.30am.
Mr Barry said his only choice was to check out the refund possibilities, adding his 2½-year-old daughter Amy would be very disappointed: "She was so excited about going on the plane. There'll be tears when we tell her there's no plane today. All week it's been building up, so it's disappointing for her."
Another passenger said, "We had come across to spend a few days in Ireland and we were going to fly to Skiathos with XL. Now we will try and get a flight back to the UK, I suppose."
Passengers travelling on flights from Ireland to Reus were also affected by cancelled flights.
XL's 12 Irish staff also learned of the company's collapse only yesterday morning.
At the company offices on Capel Street on the north side of Dublin city centre yesterday afternoon, nobody was present. The building's receptionist directed several passengers who had arrived to contact the Commission for Aviation Regulation.
Speaking on RTÉ yesterday, one employee said he sympathised with the passengers: "I feel sorry for the passengers who have been left stranded."
The former XL staff member said many of the staff members were on permanent contracts with mortgages to pay, and they were now left with no jobs.
"It leaves me up the creek," he added.
Another member of staff, who wished to remain anonymous, said she heard of the collapse through a fellow employee.
"I got a call from one of my colleagues at 2am to let me know.
"I was on standby this morning at 9am and I wouldn't have known.
"I had only left my phone on in case they called me for work," she told RTÉ.
Up to 4,000 Irish holidaymakers were affected by the collapse of the tour operator, which operates as XL Holidays in Ireland.
An estimated 200,000 advance bookings had been made with the tour operator before its sudden collapse.
Last month, two companies - a tour operator based in Co Mayo and a budget airline - collapsed, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded.