THREE Irish nationals have been successfully evacuated from Afghanistan, Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney has confirmed this morning.
The Government is still working to secure safe passage home for around 30 more people, including as many as eight children, who are still stuck in Afghanistan.
"So there are people managing to get out, albeit in small numbers," Mr Coveney said in an interview on RTÉ's Today with Philip Boucher Hayes.
Among the three Irish citizens already evacuated is Aoife MacManus who spoke to RTÉ this week about her plight from Kabul, though for safety reasons Minister Coveney refused to disclose exactly how she got out of the country.
"I don't think it is helpful to reveal how she got out or where she is as we are trying to get many people out," he said.
Mr Coveney added that as each day passes there is a slight change in the number of Irish citizens seeking assistance.
He said most of them are working for international organisations or NGOs, and that Ireland was working with the UK, the US and other EU nations to secure evacuations for all of them.
Ireland also announced that it would be accepting around 150 Afghan refugees, and Minister Coveney said that "a lot more" will likely be accepted in the coming weeks.
Kabul airport has been in chaos since the Taliban took over the city on Sunday. Thousands of people flocked to the airport in a bid to escape the advancing Islamic militant group, who have unofficially assumed the running of the country following the collapse of the local government.
The Taliban's resurgence in the region has been made possible by the withdrawal of western forces in Afghanistan over the past few months.
