Two more Irish citizens have been evacuated from Afghanistan, bringing the total so far to eight.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney has confirmed that 34 Irish citizens remain to be evacuated from Afghanistan; 23 of them are adults and 11 are dependants.
"There are now eight Irish citizens who have got out on various different flights," Mr Coveney said.
Speaking on RTÉ's This Week programme, Mr Coveney said the remaining 34 waiting to be evacuated "are a mixture of Irish only citizens who are working with NGOs or the UN, then there are quite a number also of Afghan Irish citizens who are originally from Afghanistan but had returned home to visit family".
"We're fully committed to all 34, we’re staying in close contact with them through the embassy in Abu Dhabi.
He added that it was a "very fluid and difficult situation".
Mr Coveney also said that Irish citizens waiting to leave Afghanistan should not travel to the airport unless they are advised to do so by the Irish Embassy in Abu Dhabi.
Mr Coveney said the situation at Kabul airport was "really chaotic" yesterday and that no planes had taken off yesterday. That was still the case this morning.
"This is a very complicated and difficult situation for all the countries that are present in Kabul airport trying to get their citizens out. We are working with many of them to try to get Irish citizens on planes that are leaving," he added.
The Government has received cooperation from US, the UK as well as France and Germany, Mr Coveney explained.
"Some of the Irish people that have got out in the last 48 hours were on a plane organised by Germany, and we are very grateful to them.
"But they have their own decisions to make, and they have many, many more citizens than we have across Afghanistan that they are trying to evacuate," he said.
Reports from Britain have suggested that British military flights may end as early as Tuesday. US troops are due to leave Afghanistan by 31 August.
"So yes, of course, this is a window that is closing. We want to be sure we can take advantage of any opportunity over the coming days to get people and their dependants out," he said.
Asked if he is concerned for the safety of Irish citizens there, Mr Coveney replied: "No one really knows what's going to happen in Afghanistan. We've seen some propaganda from them in the last few days saying there is nothing to fear. We've also heard lots of examples of Taliban inspections in people's homes, burning of passports and intimidation. This is a very volatile and concerning situation."
Mr Coveney said there have been multiple meetings between the departments of foreign affairs and defence assessing the risk on the ground.
He said that family reunification requests from Afghanistan will be prioritised by the Department of Justice, but added:
"It's very clear that we would like to welcome Afghan citizens that are at risk in their own country to Ireland, particularly if their family is already here. It’s another thing actually facilitating their evacuation and getting them out in the coming days, that’s a real challenge."
"The priority has to be to get Irish citizens out, first and foremost, and then to be as generous as we possibly can in terms of our refugee settlement programme and also family reunification and we will be generous on both of those accounts."
He said the number of people who will be coming to Ireland under the Irish Refugee Protection Programme is closer to 200, including 45 Afghan staff who had been working for EU organisations, and then 150 from NGOs, media, and humanitarian workers.
