Fifty-nine asylum-seekers, the largest single group to arrive in the State to date, are being housed in emergency accommodation in Co Wexford.
The group, including one 12-year-old boy, arrived in Rosslare port on New Year's Eve on a passenger ferry which came from Cherbourg, France.
Some had stowed away on lorry containers on the Irish Ferries vessel, while others had boarded as foot passengers with false passports, according to gardai.
The group includes 44 Romanians, seven Nigerians, three Bulgarians, two Kosovars, two Togolese and one man from Sierra Leone.
It is understood that the stowaways got out of the containers while the ferry was in transit and made themselves known to crew.
All 59 applied for asylum or refugee status, after the ferry docked. Their applications were handled by immigration officials in Rosslare.
A Garda spokesman in Wexford said the asylum applications would be forwarded to the Department of Justice officials in Dublin to be processed.
The group has been housed in emergency accommodation in Carne, about 15 miles from Wexford. They are staying in a St Vincent de Paul holiday centre about 15 miles outside Wexford town, along with some 14 asylum-seekers who arrived earlier.
A spokeswoman for the South Eastern Health Board said food was being provided for the group.
The latest arrival brings to nearly 180 the number of asylum-seekers who arrived in the State through Rosslare port last December, according to Garda figures.
Until now, the largest single group to arrive at the Co Wexford port consisted of 47 Romanian gypsies, who travelled from Cherbourg concealed in container lorries in July 1998.
That group of 27 adults and 20 children, from the Arad region of eastern Romania, was subsequently housed in a holiday hostel in Castleblayney, Co Monaghan.