The Cork and Kerry-based Afghans travelled to the capital, where they were joined by fellow Afghans living in Mayo, Limerick, Dublin and Galway. In total, 41 Afghans arrived at St Patrick's Cathedral, paid their 8 entrance fee and then refused to leave.

Today, two weeks after launching their hunger strike, the only change to the men's legal status is that 31 of them are now facing public order offences, charged under the Forcible Entry and Occupation Act (1971). Despite facing criminal charges and having been painted negatively in some sections of the media, the men remain confident that their actions will help to further their cause.

Speaking to the Sunday Tribune shortly after appearing in court last week, Samander Khan Oriyakhal, who was seen as one of the main spokesmen for the group throughout the protest, said he believed the event was beneficial.

"Of course it was positive, " he said. "I mentioned in my statement that, thanks to God, nobody got harmed in the holy church. We had a protest, raised our voices as victims and hope our voices will be heard and get as fair as possible a hearing."

According to Khan, the men involved in the hunger strike have still not fully recovered from their experience. "We are not bad, but a little bit affected by it, " he said. "It will take time, and then they will recover. Mentally, most of the guys are affected, but each one is quite strong.

Most of the men have been back to their old places, some of them in Cork and Galway."

The stand-off ended peacefully, despite threats by some members of the group to commit suicide if the gardai attempted to remove them. Khan praised the gardai for their efforts throughout the event.

The Afghan men also thanked Church of Ireland leaders who became involved in the negotiations because the strike took place inside St Patrick's cathedral.

Despite their willingness to allow the Afghan men to stay in the cathedral, the hunger strike will have hit the cathedral hard in financial terms. Over 1,400 tourists visit St Patrick's each day during the summer months, with adults paying 8 and children 5. The hunger strike will have cost the cathedral in the region of 80,000.

There had been fears that attempts to resolve the dispute would cause some of the Afghans to harm themselves. The protest ended peacefully last weekend when the men were persuaded to leave the cathedral voluntarily. It is believed that the men's decision to end the hunger strike was partly motivated by fears for the safety of family members in Afghanistan if word of the protest inside the Christian cathedral got back.

Most of the men threatening selfharm were minors. The nine Afghans under the age of 18 have all returned to school.

Omid, 17, and Ahmad, 17, have returned to school in Dundrum College, Co Dublin.

Both students, who are studying for their Leaving Certificate exams, returned to their school in the middle of exam time.

"It's a bit manic, " said school principal Brian Doran. "They are all back and seem to have returned to normal."

The minors involved in the hunger strike were living in hostels but were made wards of court after the Health Service Executive applied to the High Court during the hunger strike. The minors are now living in apartments.

Students in Dundrum were visible outside the cathedral on several days of the protest supporting their classmates.

One classmate who picketed the cathedral was herself taken to hospital during the early stages of the protest when she collapsed, said to be overcome by emotion. Some of the counter-protesters verbally harassed and threw eggs at the students.

The men involved have been assured that their actions will not have a negative effect on their application for asylum in Ireland. However, depending on the outcome of their court cases in June, it is difficult to see how a criminal record will not stand against them in arguing to be allowed to remain in Ireland.

The men are all at various stages of the asylum process; some arrived in Ireland over two years ago while others are here only a matter of weeks. While some of the men have already had their applications rejected by both the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner (ORAC) and the Refugee Appeals Tribunal (RAT), others have yet to receive word on their initial asylum applications.

In the short term, some of the men will be moved to new accommodation, which was one of their original demands. Nineteen of the men were living in direct provision accommodation in Tralee.

However, it is believed that 10 of these men will move into new accommodation in Dublin early next week.

According to Grainne Landers of the Tralee Refugee Support Service, the men arrived back in Kerry on Thursday to gather their belongings before their move to Dublin.

There are four direct provision accommodation centres for asylum seekers in Tralee, housing over 500 people from nearly 70 countries.

Rosanna Flynn of Residents Against Racism criticised certain media reports over the week which attempted to link the protesters with the Taliban. According to Flynn, the men are adamant that none of them was involved in the Taliban, although a small number had been involved in the Afghan civil service during the Taliban regime.

Flynn also described as "laughable" claims that Residents Against Racism had been behind the hunger strike, encouraging the Afghan men to take the drastic action.