A Corkman, who emigrated over 20 years ago, has been appointed Ireland’s honorary consul in Western Australia.

Irish agri-food companies will engage in knowledge transfer projects with partners in Africa in a new Government scheme launched yesterday.

THE growth of the export sector is being hampered by a shortage of suitable shipping containers to transport goods to market.

A short-term stay visa waiver programme, allowing visitors from 16 countries who clear immigration in the UK come to Ireland without needing further clearance, has been launched.

Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore has ordered Irish diplomats across the globe to get the message out that Ireland has drawn a line under its banking crisis.

The Dáil has this evening passed a unanimous motion condemning the attack by Israel on an aid flotilla en-route to Gaza.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs says he is gravely concerned over reports emerging into the storming of a Turkish ship this morning by Israeli commandos.

THE funeral will take place on Monday of Eileen Martin, the mother of Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin TD, who died yesterday.

Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin will hold high-level meetings on the undocumented Irish in Washington DC today.

EFFORTS to free kidnapped aid worker Sharon Commins intensified last night amid growing uncertainty about those responsible for the abduction.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will visit Ireland next week for the first time since taking office, it was revealed today.

Italy is the top foreign location for couples in Munster to tie the knot, it was revealed today.

WE now have a three-tier ministerial system. At the bottom are the soon-to -be-announced ministers of state. At the top are finance, health, education, justice and transport. In the middle are the others, widely interpreted, since Brian Cowen announced his cabinet, as of minor importance, offering damn-all potential advancement to their holders, and awarded either as punishments or consolation prizes.

The Taoiseach tonight denied any wrongdoing in helping a Manchester tycoon secure an Irish passport in 1994.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern will represent the Government when Archbishop of Armagh Dr Sean Brady is made a cardinal in Rome later this month.

The aid agency GOAL is seeking a meeting with Minster for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern to discuss concerns about the new Rapid Response Corps launched by the Government yesterday.

Tight security will surround the visit to the Middle East of Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern later this month.

The Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs is to discuss the situation of the illegal Irish in America next week.

THE local IMPACT union committee representing specialists in Development Co-operation Ireland (DCI), Department of Foreign Affairs, feels compelled to take the unusual step of responding publicly to recent comments ...

EUROPE’S leading human rights body has come out in support of recent calls by the Irish Human Rights Commission for the Irish authorities to search US aircraft landing in the Republic.

The race to lead the World Trade Organisation has narrowed to two candidates - Pascal Lamy of France and Carlos Perez del Castillo of Uruguay, a key mediator said yesterday.

Labour's Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs is urging the Government to initiate an international aid plan, in the aftermath of Sunday’s earthquake.

The Philippine government was waiting for information today after making a direct appeal to the insurgents holding a Filipino hostage to spare his life.

Minister for Foreign Affairs, Brian Cowen, will lead EU foreign ministers today in resuming the process of painstaking negotiations for Europe's new constitution with the aim of delivering a final charter by mid-June.

FORMER Fianna Fáil Ministers Michael O’Kennedy and David Andrews have been paid €101,000 and €74,000 respectively to decide upon asylum seekers’ appeals for refugee status.

‘We are seen by the rest of the world as a big player. But we just have not believed it ourselves up to now’

The Minister for Foreign Affairs says the people of Ireland should not underestimate the great work done by the pro-agreement parties in the North over the last five months.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Brian Cowen has stressed that military action is not inevitable in Iraq.

MORE than 10,000 demonstrators opposed to war with Iraq are expected to hold a rally in Dublin next month.

Foreign Affairs Minister Brian Cowen was clearly embarrassed

Relatives of victims of the Omagh bombing are due to meet the Foreign Affairs Minister on Tuesday, it was today confirmed.

Ray Burke is expected to be questioned about new "bags of money" allegations when he takes the stand at the Flood Tribunal later today.