The Minister for Foreign Affairs has said a number of Irish couples who travelled to Ukraine to meet their children born through surrogacy are all safe, and some of the families are en route back to Ireland.
Speaking on Newstalk, Simon Coveney said consular officials had been working ''intensively'' with the families to ensure they could return home safely.
''Our team in the embassy in Kyiv and our consular team in Dublin have been literally working through the night with families to try to ensure that the families that have been involved in surrogacy over the last few days can get home safely,'' Simon Coveney told the On the Record programme.
A number of babies were due to be born to Irish couples in the coming months via surrogacy in Ukraine.
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Kerry-based couple Dermot and Dorothy Moynihan recently flew to Ukraine to welcome their baby boy, Luke.
Tracy Horan, a solicitor for two of the couples, has welcomed the news that the parents were provided with emergency travel documentation for their babies.
''It's just been phenomenal the support they have been given by the Irish government in securing documents and getting assistance non-stop,'' Ms Horan told RTÉ News.
''Everyone has been working very hard to get everything together that the Department of Foreign Affairs require so the families could travel and get out of the country [Ukraine] as quickly as possible."
Ms Horan said the families are hugely relieved.
''These are actually little babies, Irish citizens, these are tiny people that we have to vindicate their rights and the Irish government has done that and worked tirelessly to get these individuals home as quicky as possible,'' she said.
The Department of Foreign Affairs has reiterated Government advice for Irish citizens in Ukraine to leave using available commercial options.
Sixty-eight Irish citizens in Ukraine have registered with the Irish Embassy in Kyiv.
Government advice remains not to travel to Ukraine.
