The LE Niamh returned to Haulbowline Naval Base in Co. Cork this morning.

The partners of Defence Forces members are holding a 24-hour vigil outside Leinster House.

The head of a military representative association has described as “disgraceful” the failure to pay many young recruits to the Defence Forces for several weeks their pay and allowances.

Catch up on this morning's headlines...

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, writes Sean O’Riordan of the Irish Examiner.

The Naval Service will make history on October 6 when it joins an EU-led taskforce which is taking a more aggressive role against people-smugglers and gun-runners operating in war-torn Libya, including IS fighters.

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.

The crew of LÉ William Butler Yeats is fully trained and equipped to deal with a new role in Operation Sophia, according to the ship’s commander.

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.

The Naval Service is gearing up to save even more migrants from drowning in the Mediterranean Sea this year as refugees pour into Libya from Middle East war zones following Turkey’s promise to cut people-smuggling operations across the Aegean into Greece.

The Irish naval vessel LE Roisin has left Ireland for search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean.

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

The Naval Service has confirmed it will send the LÉ Róisín to the Mediterranean Sea at the end of this month to resume humanitarian missions.

The Naval Service is beginning to increase fishery protection duties having suffered a number of setbacks in recent years.

The minister for defence has said he will not send the Naval Service back to the Mediterranean Sea if the threat to their humanitarian mission from Islamic State’s (IS) occupation of northern Libya proves too great.

Some of the most memorable news events of the year, both heartening and heartbreaking, were recalled at the annual People of the Year Awards.

The head of the Naval Service is supporting a call that personnel working on humanitarian rescue missions in the Mediterranean be given a higher overseas duty allowance.

The review of Channel 4’s new television programme SAS Who Dares Wins which was carried on your website on Wednesday, October 19, appears to be completely oblivious to the fact that this is a so-called “game show” based around a regiment of the British army that is responsible for the deaths of Irish citizens.

Proud families gathered on the quayside yesterday to welcome home the crew of LÉ Niamh, who apart from rescuing migrants, assisted in the birth of one and the double resuscitation of an infant who nearly drowned.

LÉ Samuel Beckett will depart her base in Haulbowline, Co Cork, this morning to take over refugee rescue missions in the Mediterranean from LÉ Niamh.

Nearly 130 refugees were saved from drowning when the naval ship LÉ Niamh rescued them from a sinking dinghy off the Libyan coast after earlier taking onboard a further 250 from similar unseaworthy craft.

Cork County Council is currently seeking homes for 50 refugees, but expects to be asked to house more as the migrant crisis intensifies after Germany closed its border with Austria.

The Government is drawing up plans to house more than 5,000 refugees fleeing the Mediterranean crisis in empty State-owned properties to ensure they are not thrown into the already over-crowded direct provision system.

I have the highest respect for the Irish Defence Forces. The defence forces are considered by their peers to be highly efficient and professional.

The Government is expected to extend the Irish Naval Service humanitarian mission in the Mediterranean today as donations flood in for an aid convoy bound for Calais.

The crew of LÉ Niamh will return home on Friday, October 2, but it is still unknown if the Government will send a replacement ship out to the Mediterranean Sea to aid the EU-led operation to save migrants attempting to make the crossing from North Africa into Europe.

Good morning. Here’s everything you need to know before you start your day.

Hundreds of migrants are feared drowned after a fishing boat said to be carrying as many as 700 people capsized in the Mediterranean yesterday.

Latest reports suggest 25 migrants have died and 400 rescued after a fishing boat carrying over 600 people capsized off the coast of Libya; An evangelical Belfast preacher who branded Islam “satanic” has said his prosecution is a “waste” of public money and Zimbabwe postpones the trial of the guide who oversaw the shooting of Cecil the Lion. Catch up with these and more of the latest and most read news stories on irishexaminer.com.

A specialist team has flown out to Sicily to offer counselling to crew members on LÉ Niamh, who have been given a four-day break from migrant rescue operations.

If wind or rain had whipped up before the LÉ Niamh reached a wooden barge crammed with more than 500 migrants, the death toll onboard would probably have been far higher.

The number of migrants rescued by the Irish Naval Service has passed the 4,000 mark after LÉ Niamh crew rescued 358 people from a wooden barge.

In her second operation in just 24 hours LÉ Niamh rescued a further 256 migrants off the cost of Libya, bringing to 3,691 the total rescued to date by the Naval Service in the Mediterranean Sea.

Naval Service history was made yesterday as LÉ Éithne and LÉ Niamh saluted each other in the Mediterranean, with the former heading home and the latter on her way to rescue migrants trying to get from North Africa to Europe.

Families are expected to crowd the quayside in Haulbowline next Friday to welcome home the 69-strong crew of LÉ Eithne after a rescue mission which saw them pluck 3,376 migrants from unseaworthy craft in the Mediterranean Sea.

The Naval Service is seeking more time from the Heath & Safety Authority (HSA) to remove asbestos from two ships which have been out of commission since last May.

The Irish Naval Service has seized cocaine with a street value of up to €100m on a yacht off the Irish coast after a major intelligence-led operation.

Some of these are really amazing.

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 new generation of ships being built for the naval service will carry unmanned planes along with deep sea search and rescue robot submarines.

A third day of searching has failed to locate the bodies of five fishermen missing after their trawler sank off West Cork.

PRAYERS will be said this morning that the weather will change sufficiently to allow divers to search the wreck of the Tit Bonhomme, which may conceal the bodies of five fishermen feared drowned after it struck rocks and sank at the entrance to a bay in Co Cork.