Defence Minister Simon Coveney has said the Defence Forces are ready to deploy in the Mediterranean to help with the growing migrant crisis. He has likened the predicament of today’s migrants to those who travelled in the coffin ships that left this country during the The Famine.

A Maltese naval crew will arrive in Haulbowline in the next few weeks to be trained to operate the LÉ Aoife, which was gifted to Malta amid some controversy.

It may be twinned with Waterford, but the Maltese military’s ‘snub’ of an offer to take the naval vessel LÉ Aoife free of charge has angered Cork county councillors.

Talk about gratitude. The Government gifted a navy ship worth €400,000 to the Maltese but its military, instead of being grateful, torpedoed the idea.

The Government is to gift one of its Naval Service ships to the Maltese to help them cope with the ongoing refugee crisis in the Mediterranean and is planning to deploy Irish ships on an EU anti-piracy missions off Somalia.

Work on removing potentially lethal asbestos on the Naval Service ship LÉ Orla has been completed, although it will be a few weeks before she becomes fully operational again.

She’s helped steer a naval vessel through storms and mountainous seas and has co-ordinated daring boarding missions with total focus and nerves of steel.

The naval patrol boat LÉ Aoife is to be decommissioned this month and sold off, through public auction, by the end of February.

Industry insiders have estimated it could end up costing the taxpayer around €1m to remove asbestos from two Naval Service vessels which were supposed to be free of the potentially lethal substance.

An asbestos clean-up has begun on a third Naval Service vessel after the potentially lethal substance was found on board last Saturday.

The public will have a last chance today to go aboard the LÉ Aoife in Cork, before the naval vessel is taken out of service early next year.

The Naval Service has begun a fleet-wide survey for asbestos after the potentially lethal substance was discovered in four of its ships.

A specialist company has started removing asbestos from two Naval Service ships which have been locked down for a number of weeks due to the discovery of the potentially lethal substance onboard.

Concerns have been raised about the operational effectiveness of the Naval Service after it emerged that a third vessel has been discovered to have potentially fatal asbestos onboard.

Two men who live in Carrigaline have received notable appointments in the Naval Service, one as its boss and the other as captain of its newest vessel, LÉ Samuel Beckett, when it arrives in the spring.

A UK-registered fishing vessel has been detained by the LE Aoife off the coast of Cork for allegedly breaching fishing regulations.

The Naval Service will hold a special decommissioning service on the LÉ Emer next Friday and the vessel is to be sold off through public auction on Oct 23.

"Back her up… back her up… lock her hard… Ah, crap."

Engineers from the Naval Service are assessing damage caused to the LÉ Aoife after the 65-metre-long patrol vessel crashed into a pontoon at the deep water quay in Cobh, Co Cork.

Cork County Council has been urged to acquire, as a potential floating museum or restaurant, one of two Irish Naval Service ships due to be decommissioned.

The helm of a naval vessel was handed from one female captain to another yesterday, marking a first in Irish Navy history.

A Norwegian couple are recovering in West Cork after spending three days stranded in raging seas off the Irish coast.

Exercises continuing off the Cork coast have demonstrated the professionalism of the naval services, Commodore Mark Mellett said yesterday.

Symbolic fires blazed on headlands and islands along the Cork coast last night marking a timeline of the Titanic’s ill-fated maiden voyage across the Atlantic a century ago.

Symbolic fires blazed on headlands and islands along the Cork coast last night marking a timeline of the Titanic’s ill-fated maiden voyage across the Atlantic a century ago.

A DEEP-SEA tug towed the stricken super-yacht Rambler 100 to a sheltered cove on the south west coast last night ahead of a major salvage operation today.

THE Naval Service will make history next month when for the first time one of its ships carries out fishery protection duties in foreign waters.

NAVAL recruits have taken an oath of allegiance for the first time since the recruitment embargo came into force two years ago.

THE Naval Vessel LÉ Aoife has taken an Irish fishing vessel, the Ocean Venture, in tow after its propeller got fouled during a routine boarding operation. The incident took place at 11.20am yesterday about 90 nautical miles west of Loop Head in west Clare.

“FOR years my wife said there was only one other woman in my life,” Lt Cdr Peter Twomey said.

SHE’S clocked up enough miles to travel twice to the moon and back, carried out 5,000 fishery boardings and collected €3.5 million in fines.

GOVERNMENT cutbacks may force the Naval Service to patrol with significantly reduced crews, limiting its operational efficiency.

EVEN though Roberta O’Brien grew up almost 100 kilometres from the nearest coastline, it hasn’t stopped the Tipperary native from making history with the Irish Naval Service.

AN IRISH trawler has been rammed by a Spanish fishing vessel amid growing tensions between Irish, French and Spanish fishermen.

The Irish Navy’s eight ships will each burn the equivalent of €1m worth of oil over the next two years.

THE body of a student who drowned in a tragic sea rescue last Sunday was recovered yesterday, close to where the people he helped save were washed ashore.

PEOPLE leading the search for the body of the student who drowned saving two swimmers appealed last night for more volunteers and boats. The full-scale sea, shore and cliff search for the body of Jonathan Herlihy will enter its sixth day today along the West Cork coast.

The Naval Service appealed to small fishing boat owners today to join the search for the second of two men who drowned after saving a couple off the coast of Cork at the weekend.

FOR one family the mourning can begin — for another family, the agonising wait goes on.

An oil tanker that got into difficulty off the coast of Wexford yesterday evening docked safely in Waterford this afternoon.

PLANNING is underway to replace three of the Naval Service's aging vessels it emerged yesterday following the announcement of a €19 million increase in the defence estimate.

The Naval Service has detained two French trawlers off the south-west coast this week for alleged breaches of fishing regulations.

TALL SHIPS revellers will have to be out of their bunks early tomorrow to see the 86 magnificent vessels depart Waterford.

A French fishing vessel was detained off the Cork coast yesterday is due to arrive in Cobh harbour shortly.