Egypt, Morocco, India, Brazil and Malawi have been added to the list of safe countries, Minister for Justice Helen McEntee has announced.
It means that asylum seekers from these nations will have their International Protection applications dealt with within three months.
Minister McEntee updated her Cabinet colleagues on the additions at a meeting this morning.
IPAS figures show that in the last 12 months, the amount of asylum seekers from Malawi has increased by one, from 224 applicants to 225.
During the same timeframe, there was an increase of 76 asylum seekers from Morocco, to a total of 370 applicants.
The number of asylum seekers from Egypt rose from 367 to 464, while the number from India increased by 66, from 132 to 198.
On 25 June last year, there were 65 asylum seekers from Brazil but because of a change in the way the Department of Integration publishes their figures it is not clear how many there currently are.
The department does not publish the figures for countries where there are currently less than 121 asylum seekers from that country.
It comes as the topic of immigration has moved up the agenda as a concern for the public in opinion polls.
The Government believes that as it takes more steps to deal with accommodation for those seeking international protection, it also needs to examine its immigration processes.
The designation of a state as a "safe country" of origin does not mean that a person cannot apply for international protection.
However, it places an onus on the applicant to demonstrate why, and by way of exception, they are in need of protection.
It means that asylum applicants from the countries will be subject to accelerated processing, and will have their cases considered, and decisions issued within a maximum of 90 days.
Safe countries of origin are those where it can be shown that there is generally and consistently no persecution, no torture or inhuman or degrading treatment, and no threat by reason of indiscriminate violence.
Ten countries on list
There were already ten countries on Ireland's list, which began in November 2022.
They are Albania, Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Georgia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and South Africa.
Labour leader Ivana Bacik said it is important that the human rights of people seeking asylum are protected.
Speaking at Leinster House, Deputy Bacik said Labour has "always stood for fairness" in and "absolute human rights".
She said her party "wants to look at the five countries" due to be added to the list to ensure there is no reduction in the rights of people seeking asylum from those locations.
People Before Profit-Solidarity TD Paul Murphy said the Government is taking part in "more performative cruelty" towards asylum seeker applicants and that in his view the measure is designed to "simply make it harder for asylum seekers".
He said the move "will not build an extra home for Irish people, will not build an extra hospital bed".
Deputy Murphy added that he believes the Government should be careful about "playing the migration card".
Refugee body 'very concerned' by additions
The CEO of the Irish Refugee Council said he is "very concerned" about the additions to the safe countries list "in particular Morocco, Malawi and Egypt".
Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, Nick Henderson said that there was a very high standard for designations in the International Protection Act.
Mr Henderson said that Ms McEntee had to be satisfied that in those countries there is no persecution, torture, inhumane or degrading treatment, indiscriminate violence and that there are laws, regulations and human rights protections in place.
"When you look at some of the human rights information from countries such as Egypt, I’m quite staggered and flabbergasted ultimately how they could be designated as safe," he said.
He added that in Malawi there are frequent examples of abuse of LGBT people as same sex relations remain a crime.
He said the Government is obliged to protect and ensure access to the asylum procedure.
"In our view, they are using the safe country mechanism to try and reduce access to the asylum procedure and they are not applying the correct test," he said.
"The Government would be better placed if they are concerned about resources and processing to invest properly in the international protection process," he added.
Additional reporting Fiachra Ó Cionnaith
