The Cabinet yesterday gave the go-ahead for the introduction of a new welfare system for asylum-seekers to replace total cash payments currently in place.
Apart from food and accommodation vouchers, one of the options to be considered by the Minister for Justice is the introduction of a smart card.
The move is designed to stem the influx of asylum-seekers. The latest figures show 520 asylum-seekers have arrived in the past fortnight, amounting to a total of 5,000 so far this year.
The Cabinet also decided yesterday to accommodate a significant number of asylum-seekers outside Dublin due to the lack of accommodation in the capital.
The Government decided yesterday that Mr O'Donoghue should chair the existing Inter-Departmental Committee on Immigration, Asylum and Related Issues. The committee, comprising representatives of Departments and agencies involved in providing services to asylum-seekers, will work immediately on identifying measures needed to produce an effective system of direct provision.
The Minister said last night the Government was faced with a complex set of tasks and obligations which were literally without precedent in the history of the State.
"On the one hand we have the moral and humanitarian duty to meet the needs of those genuinely fleeing persecution and in doing so to meet the highest international standards.
"On the other hand we have a duty, recognised and implemented internationally, to ensure the State does not become the object of large-scale fraud planned and executed by internationally organised criminal gangs," he added.
Mr O'Donoghue has signed 20 deportation orders for refugees, and up to 500 asylum-seekers face deportation in weeks. Almost 300 have received deportation order notices and now have 15 days to appeal to be allowed remain on humanitarian grounds.