We just returned to the US from a European tour via Dublin. We chose to leave from Dublin because they have a direct flight to Seattle and we wanted to find out how Aer Lingus was to fly on. Firstly, Aer Lingus was fine, not amazing, but doable, nothing stellar but nothing horrible. It was nice to go through US Customs in Dublin at the beginning of the trip rather than back in the US when I am brain dead after a long flight and time changes. What was really bad about the experience was the Dublin airport and the lack of tourist facilities. We initiated our return from Edinburgh. The airport there had several restaurants and coffee shops. I mistakenly thought that Dublin, as a major hub, would have at least the same level of offerings. WRONG. Once we arrived in Dublin we walked through the airport to the connecting flight area. We were herded past many duty free shops lovely, well-staffed, well-stocked shops. No restaurants. We arrived at our connecting flight area along with a multitude of other foreign travelers to find only one very small cafeteria style "restaurant" to serve all of us. It offered various pre-made sandwiches. The line was over 50 people long. We were told there was another food provider upstairs so we checked on that and there were only vending machines. There was a pay for use lounge that was something like 50 British pounds/person which we did not use. We returned to the cafeteria line and they had run out of sandwiches and the line behind us was still at least 50 people deep. There was really nothing for anyone to eat. Fortunately they did have beer. There were, in fact, several places to buy beer.
Bottom line: if returning to the US through Dublin, bring your own food to the airport as that may be your only source of food while there.