The Department of Justice has confirmed that it is prioritising international protection applications from Afghan nationals.
According to the Irish Refugee Council, more than 200 Afghan nationals currently live in the Direct Provision System.
In a statement, the Department of Justice said that it "is currently reviewing all international protection applications on hand from Afghan nationals with a view to expediting their progress, in line with updated advices provided by UNHCR in recent days".
It said that 70 Afghan nationals applied for international protection in Ireland so far this year.
The department also confirmed that it has decided on "compassionate" grounds to allow Afghan nationals who faced a transfer to another EU country to seek international protection in Ireland.
It said that there were "a small number of Afghan nationals [in the country] who have been designated for transfer to another EU Member State under the Dublin Regulation or who have been deemed inadmissible due to having status in another EU country.
"However, the department has decided to accept them into the international protection process in Ireland on a compassionate basis."
Additionally, the department said it was currently processing family reunification applications for 103 Afghan family members.
"These are being prioritised and will now be fast-tracked to completion in the coming days, with full consideration given to the current humanitarian context," the department said.
So far this year, 49 Afghan family members have already been approved for family reunification.
Earlier, Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney said that he expects that "in the coming days" the Irish Government "will be doing more" to help Afghan nationals.
Mr Coveney said that the Government is "concerned about many Afghan nationals" who worked with NGOs and in EU embassies.
He confirmed that Ireland will take 150 people from Afghanistan via the Irish Refugee Protection Programme (IRPP), and that these places had been "more or less" filled already.
This is in addition the 45 humanitarian visas already offered to Afghan citizens who had been working with EU operations in the country.
"So there is a lot happening and in the coming days we will be doing more, but so far Ireland is one of the few countries that has actually announced numbers in terms of the numbers of people we are willing to take, but as I say in the coming days we may well do more than is currently in place," Mr Coveney said.
