500 refugee places have been made available for family members of Afghan people already living here.
The decision was approved at Tuesday morning’s Cabinet meeting and announced by Minister for Justice, Heather Humphreys, at a press conference afterwards.
The Government will now move to put the provisions in place to house the refugees fleeing the war-torn, authoritarian country.
The United States pulled out the last of its troops out of Afghanistan earlier this month, ending a 20 year occupation since the 9/11 terror attacks led them to invade.
They believed that Al Qaeda and the political movement linked to the terrorist organisation, the Taliban, were responsible for the attacks on US soil that took over 3,000 lives.
The vacuum left by the Americans saw the former rulers, the Taliban, move in swiftly to take over Afghanistan again.
But this has left many, many Afghans in fear of their lives under the hardline regime and Ireland is playing its part in giving fleeing refugees a place to call home again.
Ms Humphreys said: “Since the beginning of this most recent crisis in Afghanistan, Ireland has acted swiftly and compassionately to demonstrate our support and solidarity with the Afghan people.
“What has been agreed by Government today is a further concrete demonstration of that support.
“We are introducing a special Afghan Admission Programme, with an allocation of up to 500 places.
“This will allow current or former Afghan nationals living in Ireland to apply to bring their close Afghan family members to Ireland to live with them.”
“We will be prioritising those who are especially vulnerable in terms of the risk to their freedom and safety, such as: older people; children; single female parents; single women and girls; people with disabilities; and people whose previous employment exposes them to greater risk, for example UN and EU employees and people who worked for civil society organisations.”
Afghan nationals living in Ireland on or before 1 September 2021, will be able to apply to nominate up to four close family members meeting the eligibility criteria and who are currently living in Afghanistan or who have fled to certain neighbouring countries.
Eligible family members will be granted ‘residence permission’ that allows them immediate access to the labour market, without the need for an employment permit.
The programme, including the detailed eligibility criteria and the application process, will be developed over the coming months, with applications opening in December.
An appeals process for unsuccessful applicants will also be established.
