The Government has indicated that it may accept more Kosovo refugees than the 1,000 limit stated by the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue.
Marking the arrival of the first refugees on Monday, Mr O'Donoghue said there was no room at present for more than 1,000, a limit that drew criticism.
However, as Opposition parties challenged him yesterday, a spokesman for the Department of Justice said the figure was open for review.
"The figure was agreed because that was the amount it was felt could be accommodated at the time. We are not ruling out taking any more, and any requests to do so will be dealt with in a generous manner," he said.
The remarks followed criticism of Mr O'Donoghue who was accused by an anti-racism campaigner yesterday of prevaricating on the issue. Mr Pat Guerin of the Irish National Federation of Campaigns Against Racism charged the Government with "state xenophobia" because of the apparent cap on numbers.
He rejected the Government's argument that there was only enough accommodation for 1,000 Kosovo refugees in the state at the moment.
"It's my view that where there is a will there is a way. There is so much building going on in this country at the moment. There is an economic boom and that argument just doesn't add up," he said.
Speaking to The Irish Times, he also criticised the Government for so far turning down the asylum requests of 200 Kosovans who have fled their country to come here in recent years.
"It is ironic that after turning these people down the Government would now welcome 1,000 refugees from the same country," Mr Guerin said.
Opposition spokesmen have also expressed criticism of the Government's approach to the Kosovo refugee crisis.
Accepting only 1,000 was "a mealy-mouthed response", said Mr Brendan Howlin, Labour's spokesman on justice. "When you look at comparable countries like Norway, who said they would take 6,000 straight away, it is hard to understand why we are taking such a minimal number," he said.
Mr Howlin pointed out the apparent contradiction between Mr O'Donoghue, who had appeared to suggest that 1,000 was the final figure to be accepted, and the Minister of State, Ms Liz O'Donnell, who yesterday told the Dail there would be "no resistance" to any requests to take more refugees.
The Minister's position was regrettable, he said, because the Irish people "have a much bigger heart than that".
Fine Gael's spokesman on foreign affairs, Mr Gay Mitchell, said that 1,000 appeared to be too low a figure. He suggested that 2,500 would be more appropriate. "Albania hasn't a shilling and it is feeding tens of thousands," he said.
The Green Party spokesman on foreign affairs, Mr John Gormley, said he did not want to get into a bidding war with other parties about how many Kosovans we should accept. But he said "putting a cap on the number was not right".
The Government's policy in relation to refugees was "in tatters", he said. He said the Government should have been thinking about the issue a long time before now instead of adopting "this adhoc approach".
A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs said that while providing adequate accommodation for the refugees was important, it was not the only issue in deciding how many refugees could be taken in by the State.
"There is the provision of a number of very important backup services to be considered," he said. Providing these vital medical, welfare, education and counselling services would mean diverting resources, he said.
He added that these were issues that could be overcome "if there was a need for them to be".
A second group of about 150 Kosovo refugees is expected to arrive at Dublin Airport tomorrow afternoon. Two-thirds of them will be accommodated in mobile homes on the site of the Army barracks in Kildare town. The rest will stay in Rathcoran House, a former convent in Baltinglass, Co Wicklow.
Both centres will be managed by the Department of Foreign Affairs Refugee Agency in conjunction with the Eastern Health Board.
A Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman said that the second group was likely to be more comfortable about relocating to the State after speaking by telephone with the refugees that are here.