Final decisions with respect to international protection applications from Syrian nationals are being temporarily paused, the Department of Justice has said.
Minister for Justice Helen McEntee said the International Protection Office would temporarily pause the issuing of final determinations while the situation in Syria is kept under review.
The issue is due to be discussed at a meeting of European Union Justice and Home Affairs Ministers on Thursday.
It comes after Syrian rebel fighters overthrew President Bashar al-Assad, ending nearly six decades of his family's iron-fisted rule after a lightning advance that reversed the course of a 13-year civil war.
Yesterday Britain, Germany, France, Italy and several other European countries said they would freeze all pending asylum requests from Syrians.
Under the UNHCR-led refugee resettlement programme, Ireland brought 2,108 Syrian refugees from Lebanon and Jordan to resettle by 2021.
In a further government decision of December 2019 Ireland pledged to welcome up to 2,900 refugees between 2020 and 2023 through resettlement.
While Germany and other governments said they were watching the fast-moving developments in the war-ravaged nation, Austria signalled it would soon deport refugees back to Syria.
Far-right politicians elsewhere made similar demands, including in Germany - home to Europe's largest Syrian community - at a time when immigration has become a hot-button issue across the continent.
Germany has taken in almost one million Syrians, with most arriving in 2015-16 under ex-chancellor Angela Merkel.
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Rights group Amnesty International slammed Germany's freeze on asylum decisions, stressing that for now "the human rights situation in the country is completely unclear".
The head of the UN refugee agency also cautioned that "patience and vigilance" were needed on the issue of refugee returns.
In Austria, where about 100,000 Syrians live, conservative Chancellor Karl Nehammer instructed the interior ministry "to suspend all ongoing Syrian asylum applications and to review all asylum grants".
Interior Minister Gerhard Karner added he had "instructed the ministry to prepare an orderly repatriation and deportation programme to Syria".
The French interior ministry said it too would put asylum requests from Syrians on hold, with authorities in Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway announcing similar moves.
Britain's interior ministry said it was taking the same measure "whilst we assess the current situation".
The Italian government said late yesterday after a cabinet meeting that it too was suspending asylum requests "in line with other European partners."
The leader of the far-right Sweden Democrats, a coalition partner in the government, said residence permits for Syrian refugees should now be "reviewed".
"Destructive Islamist forces are behind the change of power" in Syria, wrote their leader Jimmie Akesson on X.
"I see that groups are happy about this development here in Sweden. You should see it as a good opportunity to go home."
In Greece, a government spokesman voiced hope that the fall of the Assad regime will eventually allow "the safe return of Syrian refugees" to their country, but without announcing concrete measures.
