Three Irish citizens evacuated from Afghanistan 

The Minister for Foreign Affairs has confirmed that three Irish citizens have been successfully evacuated from Afghanistan, including Irish woman Aoife McManus. Picture: Ailbhe Ó Monacháin @AilbheOM/ Twitter

The Minister for Foreign Affairs has confirmed that three Irish citizens have been successfully evacuated from Afghanistan.

Among those who have left is Aoife MacManus, from Meath, who had worked in the primary education sector in Kabul for two years.

Simon Coveney said the Department of Foreign Affairs is now working to get 36 Irish citizens out of the country, including dependents and dual nationals.

He said while they are managing to get people out, "albeit in small numbers", he would not reveal the details of how Ms MacManus and the other two people were able to leave Afghanistan.

"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 told RTÉ's Today with Philip Boucher Hayes.

Some of the 36 had dual nationalities, explained Mr Coveney.

“We have a responsibility to all of them.” 

Mr Coveney attended an emergency meeting of EU foreign ministers on Tuesday to discuss the situation in Afghanistan.

“Who knows what is going to happen in the coming days and weeks?” he said.

He said the biggest obstacle for evacuations is getting people into Kabul airport due to the chaotic scenes in the capital.

"It is very difficult to get people into the airport", he said.

"It is difficult for some to get to Kabul from where they are as there are checks run by Taliban."

He said most of the Irish people still in the country are working with international organisations and NGOs and his department are working to get them out on military flights.

The easiest way to get Irish citizens out of Kabul was working with other countries which had greater capacity to send in aircraft, added Mr Coveney. Picture: SAC Samantha Holden RAF/PA Wire

All of them have been contacted by the Irish embassy in Abu Dhabi and the Government was working with NATO, the US, the UK and the EU to get the people on flights.

"We are working with EU partners, the UK and US to make sure there are places on flights leaving Kabul for them," he said.

The easiest way to get Irish citizens out of Kabul was working with other countries which had greater capacity to send in aircraft, added Mr Coveney.

Responding to a suggestion by independent TD Cathal Berry that the Irish Army Ranger wing should be sent to Kabul to assist in the exit of Irish citizens, Mr Coveney said that while the rangers were competent and skilled, the most effective way was to work with partners on the ground who were managing the situation.

People were getting out, he said, but the process was fluid and slow and was changing every day.

Mr Coveney told RTÉ that he hopes Ireland will be able to accommodate more than 150 Afghan refugees already committed to.

The Government on Tuesday said it will provide €1m in humanitarian funding to support people in Afghanistan through the UN High Commission for Refugees.

He said that was only an initial figure and "we are only getting started in some ways.

"I need to be realistic in terms of what a country like Ireland can do but we intend to use all the influence we can muster," he said when asked about chairing the Un Security Council in September.

He said that Ireland wants to be generous with in what we can do for accepting refugees but it has to be done in a way that's "structured".

"We will be generous in terms of the numbers we can accommodate. There has to be a proper plan around that," added Mr Coveney.