The Government will not give way to threats, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern warned as appeals were made to grant asylum to the Afghan men on hunger strike in St Patrick's Cathedral.
Mr Ahern said none of the approximately 40 males in the cathedral, based on the names available to the Department of Justice, "has been issued with a deportation order as the process has not yet concluded in any case".
He added that "we will be unable to have a process if we give in to this action, and I will not countenance that prospect".
Mr Ahern said: "While I do not wish to be hard in this respect, there is no other way to deal with the process."
Joe Higgins (Socialist, Dublin West), who raised the issue and appealed to the Taoiseach to grant the Afghans leave to remain in the State, said the Taoiseach should not view their action as a threat when "they are so desperate and insecure for their future that they put their health and lives at risk".
It was a "tragic and unsettling event" that they were mounting a hunger and thirst strike at the cathedral, but were now taking water.
However, six people had been taken to hospital because their conditions had worsened.
He said a meeting had taken place with Department of Justice officials yesterday afternoon, but the outcome was not known.
Mr Higgins added that the Taoiseach had been in the US asking President Bush to allow Irish citizens "without official permission to remain and make their lives there". That was up to 12,000 Irish migrants and their families.
"Will the Government extend this to a few dozen people seeking the compassion of the Irish people for refuge and a new life?"
Mr Higgins added that "interference by the major powers for more than two decades has plunged Afghanistan into being one of the most violent and disturbed countries on earth". Some of those protesting in St Patrick's Cathedral "carry healed wounds from that conflict, unlike our Irish compatriots in the US".
In his reply Mr Ahern said the asylum process was extremely comprehensive and compared well with other EU states. While 10 years ago 1 per cent of the population was non-Irish it had reached 9 per cent before last month's census.
The department had agreed to meet a group of representatives at Burgh Quay to hear the reason for the protest and explain the legal processes."No negotiations will take place at the meeting. It is a question of explaining the process to the protesters."
