Ireland's foreign affairs minister has said his department is working to get 15 Irish nationals out of Afghanistan, as he spoke of his concerns about the "chaotic situation" in the country.
Simon Coveney said there are 23 Irish nationals in Afghanistan, with 15 of them wanting to get out of the country.
The Fine Gael minister said his department has been helping Irish nationals evacuate on commercial flights, but they have been cancelled.
There is now an effort to find alterative routes out for nationals and foreigners by working with other EU countries, the UK and the US.
Kabul airport has so far not come under attack but there are fears that could change quickly with Taliban insurgents now effectively in control of the capital.
Triumphal fighters were pictured in the presidential palace abandoned by President Ashraf Ghani, who fled the country while his forces gave up the city without a fight.
Mr Coveney said that Ireland has agreed to take another 100 to 150 refugees.
"I have agreed with Roderic O'Gorman that we would make available between 100 and 150 more places in terms of refugees and will be prioritising human rights organisations, media, women and girls obviously and other family members that are vulnerable," he told RTE.
"I think there are 23 Irish nationals in the country and we have been in contact with them all, either directly or through organisations they work for.
"Many of them work with NGOs like MSF or WFP (World Food Programme).
"Fifteen of them have told us that they want to leave. We're co-ordinating that through the embassy in Abu Dhabi because we don't have an embassy in Kabul.
"My responsibility is for those 23. Some of those are dual nationals but anyone that has an Irish passport or Irish connections, we will be staying very close to try and get them out in the days ahead assuming they want to leave.
"Some have expressed a preference to stay for now, because they're working with humanitarian organisations and doing very important work that's unfortunately become even more important now.
"We have already made decisions in relation to providing visa waivers for Afghans who've been trying to get out of Afghanistan for the last few days.
"We have already approved 45 visa waivers, some of those people are trying to get out and some are in Pakistan."
The UN Security Council, of which Ireland is a member, will hold an emergency meeting on the crisis on Monday.
Mr Coveney added: "The focus of the Security Council this morning will be a humanitarian one in terms of trying to secure the exit of foreign nationals out of Afghanistan and as many Afghans that have worked with Western countries in recent years as well.
"It's really about trying to manage quite a chaotic situation."
