The Foreign Affairs Minister said this would depend on the airport in Kabul being secured.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney has said he is “reasonably confident” that Irish citizens in Afghanistan will be able to get back home in the coming days.
Speaking to Newstalk Breakfast, the Minister said the number of Irish citizens looking to leave Afghanistan had increased slightly to 33 people, consisting of 25 adults and eight dependents.
“We are working with other EU countries as you would expect to secure places for them on military flights that hopefully will be facilitated in the coming days out of Kabul airport,” he said.
“At the moment, the reports from Kabul airport are still quite chaotic and so, it’s not easy for even military planes to fly in and out to bring citizens home.
“But just to give people reassurance, we are working very closely with other EU partners and with the UK to ensure that when it is possible for flights to fly in and out of Kabul and they’ll be military flights – certainly military organised flights – we are working hard to ensure that there will be a place on some of those planes for the Irish citizens to successfully be brought back home.
“That process is working well. Really we’re relying on the US in particular to secure safe passage through Kabul airport and manage that airport which people will know from the media has been somewhat chaotic for the last few days.”
Asked if he was “reasonably confident” that in the coming days those 33 people will be able to get back to Ireland, the Minister responded: “Yes, I am but this is a fluid situation so you can’t say anything with certainty.
“What I can say is that we had a very good discussion yesterday at the Foreign Affairs council in the EU… One of the things that was discussed was that EU countries will work together to ensure that every country’s citizens can get out and obviously we’ll share resources in that regard.
“Some countries obviously have a lot more capacity than Ireland has to be able to fly in long-range aircraft to evacuate people and people will not be left behind because of that partnership and co-operation
“That said, we have to wait until the airport is secure enough to be able to do that. That’s why this may take a little longer but the partnership and the discussions that we’re having are positive.
“So, I am confident that that will happen as long as the airport can be secured.”
Main Image via Julien Behal Photography /© RollingNews.ie
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