It took six months, strong high-altitude winds, and a whole lot of luck for a little balloon to fly some 2,500km from Ireland to Norway.

An Irish town has launched a massive community campaign to ensure the red carpet is rolled out for a Norwegian family who found their message-on-a-balloon 2,500km away.

A Norwegian family are floating on air after finding “treasure” in the mountains — a note attached to balloons released in West Cork a full six months earlier promising the bearer a host of prizes, writes Eoin English of the Irish Examiner.

A Norwegian family are floating on air after finding “treasure” in the mountains — a note attached to balloons released in West Cork a full six months earlier promising the bearer a host of prizes.

A working group on market access for Irish beef in China is the first such group set up by an EU member state, and Ireland is one of only three countries worldwide to have such a working group, said Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney, in a recent review of what he described as the “very significant” achievements of the trade delegation he led to China in April.