The number of Irish citizens known to be in Afghanistan and hoping to leave the country has risen, the Government said.

Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney said on Thursday that the number has increased slightly to 36 – but three have managed to leave the country.

The Department of Foreign Affairs also confirmed to the PA news agency that a small number of Irish citizens are now at Kabul Airport, awaiting evacuation.

“The department is not in a position to disclose the specific details of those who have sought consular assistance,” a spokesman said.

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

On Monday, she told PA that she hoped to be able to leave the country in the next 48 hours.

“I don’t think it’s helpful for me to reveal how she got out or where she is, because we are trying to get as many other people out as possible,” Mr Coveney told RTE radio.

“The process is slow and fluid, in terms of circumstances changing all the time,” he said.

“The truth is that a lot of the complications around the perimeter of the airport isn’t necessarily caused directly by the Taliban; of course the panic there is caused by the Taliban being in charge, but it is the desire of many thousands of Afghans who want to try to get on flights and are trying to force their way into the airport,” he said.

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.

Mr Coveney said the Government is working with other EU states, as well as the UK and the US, to ensure Irish citizens are able to access flights out of Afghanistan.

The Government said on Tuesday that it will provide one million euro in humanitarian funding to support people in Afghanistan through the UN High Commission for Refugees.

It has also vowed to provide a further 150 humanitarian visas for Afghans under the Irish Refugee Protection Programme.

Mr Coveney insisted these visas were only the first steps in Ireland’s response to the crisis in the country, but declined to give a specific number of refugees Ireland might accept.

He said Ireland will be “generous” but “responsible”.

“I think it’s the wrong sequence to announce the figure and then try to figure out a way of accommodating that,” he said.

Mr Coveney will chair the UN Security Council in September.

He said that while it is an influential position, he needs to be “realistic in terms of what a country like Ireland can do but we intend to use all the influence we can muster”.