A mystery surrounding the whereabouts of a group of Romanians invited to the Republic to sing in a Sligo choral festival was partly solved last night after it emerged that most of them have applied for asylum.

At least 25 members of the 37-strong group, which failed to turn up for their scheduled appearance at the international festival this week, made the application at the Refugee Application Centre in Dublin, according to official sources.

However, their subsequent whereabouts were unclear last night.

The choir named Dorul (hope) was billed as the first Romanian choir to participate in the festival which has been running for 12 years. The five-day festival started last Wednesday and the Romanian choir was due to perform on Thursday night. The Romanian ambassador was also expected to attend, but in the event did not.

The party went missing after they arrived at Dublin Airport last Sunday night from Bacau in eastern Romania with 90-day visitor visas. Airport immigration officers detained the group while they contacted the festival organisers to confirm the invitation.

Father John Joseph Gannon, who invited the Dorul choir to the festival, spoke to the choir's conductor, who had perfect English, and was told the party would arrive in Sligo on Tuesday's morning train. None of the group has been in touch with the festival organisers since, and they failed to show up at Sligo train station on Tuesday.

It is understood that members of the choir left half of their baggage at Dublin Airport stating they were going to visit friends.

Father Gannon said last night he felt "cheated and disappointed" that he had been misled. "I was still living in hope that they would turn up somehow," he said.

Father Gannon is the chair of the festival's organising committee. He confirmed that 42 people had applied for visas, but only 37 arrived in Dublin. The remaining five appear to have remained behind in Romania.

Earlier, the group's disappearance prompted speculation that they may have falsified their choral credentials to immigrate to the Republic.

But Father Gannon maintained the authenticity of the choir had been checked as usual and a demonstration tape had been provided which was of an acceptable standard. It is understood the group also provided documentation to the Irish consul in Romania showing that the choir had won a competition there.

Father Gannon said he spoke last Sunday by telephone to a man who described himself as the choir's conductor and made arrangements to meet the group off the train in Sligo. He said he talked to the same man, who spoke good English, before the group left Romania.

Father Gannon said he regularly invited choirs from eastern Europe and this was the first "blip". He doubted he would invite another Romanian choir to the festival.