The MV Lifeline had been stranded off the Maltese coast for several days after a number of European countries refused it permission to dock.

The appointment of Matteo Salvini, leader of the far-right Lega party, as Italy’s new interior minister, has already lead to a showdown on migration in the Mediterranean.

A private rescue ship carrying 629 migrants remained on a northward course in the Mediterranean Sea after more than a day of not receiving permission to dock in either Italy or Malta.

The weekend capsizing off Tunisia of an overloaded smuggling boat is now believed to have killed 112 migrants, making it the deadliest shipwreck in the Mediterranean Sea this year, the UN migration agency said.

As many as 64 African migrants, including a mother whose surviving three-year-old child clung to her as she drowned, are feared dead after a traffickers’ overcrowded rubber dinghy began to sink in the Mediterranean Sea.

At least eight migrants have died and 86 been rescued from a smugglers’ boat after it starting sinking in the Mediterranean Sea off Libya, the Italian coast guard said.

It comes as nearly 600 people are rescued from the Mediterranean in the past week.

A VIP passenger will be onboard LÉ Niamh when she departs her base next week for a three-month migrant rescue mission in the Mediterranean Sea.

A Mediterranean-style diet that is rich in oily fish, fresh vegetables and nuts could help cut the risk of dementia, research suggests.

183 people have been rescued from the Mediterranean by the Irish Naval Vessel the LÉ Eithne

A Spanish aid organisation says it has recovered five bodies from waters off the Libyan coast and fears that at least 240 migrants could have died after two boats capsized in the Mediterranean.

At least 90 people are missing and feared dead after two shipwrecks off Italy, raising the estimated death toll among migrants in the Mediterranean this year to at least 5,000 - a new record.

The Irish Navy has rescued over 140 migrants in the Mediterranean.

Crew members of the LE James Joyce have been reunited with their families after a 12-week rescue mission in the Mediterranean.

Rescue boats have recovered the bodies of 17 migrants and plucked 1,128 survivors from the Mediterranean Sea south of Sicily, a day after 22 corpses were found at the bottom of a smugglers' boat.

The Naval Service is celebrating rescuing more than 10,000 people in the Mediterranean Sea with the latest rescue coming in the nick of time as a dinghy packed with migrants began to sink.

A black box recording from crashed EgyptAir flight MS804 confirms smoke on board, Egyptian investigators have said.

Egypt says it has spotted the wreckage of the EgyptAir plane that crashed into the Mediterranean last month, killing all 66 people on board.

375 migrants have been taken aboard the LÉ Róisín today.

A French company has confirmed that its special undersea search ship has detected signals from one of the black box flight recorders on the EgyptAir flight that crashed into the Mediterranean Sea last month.

Holidaymakers are flocking to destinations in the western Mediterranean this summer as terror attacks are putting tourists off other traditionally popular locations, travel agents have said.

Another Irish naval vessel is to be sent to the Mediterranean to help in the humanitarian crisis.

Service medals will be awarded to Irish Naval Service personnel who served on the historic humanitarian missions in the Mediterranean last year.

The Irish naval ship LE Samuel Beckett has coordinated a search and rescue operation in the Mediterranean.

The UN refugee agency has said more than 218,000 migrants crossed the Mediterranean in October, a record monthly tally this year and almost as many as in all of 2014.

Two British women who died in the Mediterranean following a late-night swim have been named in reports as Lisa Coggins and Tracey Aston.

At least 34 people, among them women, babies and young children, have drowned in the Aegean Sea.

Austria said 71 refugees including a baby girl were found dead in an abandoned freezer truck, while Libya recovered the bodies of 82 migrants washed ashore after their overcrowded boat sank on its way to Europe and scores more were feared dead.

Highly populated coastal areas of Greece and Italy would be inundated if a moderately powerful earthquake in the Mediterranean triggered a tsunami, research has shown.

The Irish navy have rescued another 551 people in the Mediterranean.

An estimated 25m birds, from chaffinches to harriers, are being killed illegally around the Mediterranean each year, a study has shown.

At least 40 migrants have died and some 300 others have been rescued in the Mediterranean Sea north of Libya, the Italian navy says.

Another 125 people have been rescued in the Mediterranean by the LE Niamh.

Hundreds of desperate refugees were charged between $1,200 and $1,800 (€1,100-€1,650) for a place on board the boat which capsized in the Mediterranean.

The personnel of the LÉ Niamh, and the LÉ Eithne before her, are a source of national pride as they continue their life-saving Mediterranean missions.

The number of people who have died trying to cross the Mediterranean this year has now passed 2,000.

The LE Niamh has rescued 468 migrants from the Mediterranean in the last two days.

A spokesperson confirmed naval vessels flying the Irish flag are considered Irish territory.

Irish naval vessel the LÉ Niamh has rescued 256 migrants in the Mediterranean.

The LÉ Niamh rescued almost 100 migrants yesterday.

Irish Naval crew on board the LÉ Eithne used colouring books and toys to calm the fears of children they plucked from tiny boats floating dangerously in the Mediterranean.

Families of the crew of the LÉ Eithne will welcome home their loved ones in Co Cork this morning.