Drugs are flowing into the country as our borders can’t be properly patrolled. It is one of the myriad ways we are suffering due to the under-resourced Defence Forces, writes Defence Correspondent Sean O’Riordan

Serving sailors and former comrades of a Navy man who died helping to save the crew of a Spanish trawler held a special commemoration to remember him 30 years to the day of the tragedy.

THERE can be few islands in this country that have had their form as radically changed as Rocky Island, Co Cork.

The association representing the country’s frontline Defence Forces has sought affiliation with the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) so it can be involved collectively in national pay talks.

A human heart found deep within a city centre crypt in the 19th century is to be returned to Cork next month as "sacred cargo".

Jason Deans’ exhibition in Cobh touches on Brexit and emigration, writes Colette Sheridan.

Junior officers in the naval service were regularly ‘acting down’ to fulfill duties normally carried out by ordinary and able seamen due to staff shortages months before two vessels were docked due to staff shortages.

It's somewhat ironic the Naval Service's commander spends most of his days on Haulbowline Island, just a stone's throw from Spike Island where three of his granduncles were interned in 1921 – and a fact he only found out two years ago.

A former Army private, a rugby international, a martial arts instructor and a one-time IT recruitment consultant are among nine young men who have become the latest additions to the Naval Service officers' ranks.

Time to drop anchor at Cork harbour’s shipshape Roscuan, says Tommy Barker. Pictures: Eddie O’Hare

The naval service is to tie-up two of its ships in port indefinitely due to a deepening manpower crisis.

The organisation which represents enlisted personnel in the Defence Forces says it's "very sceptical" about the Department of Defence's claim that it will address the accommodation crisis at Naval Service headquarters "as a matter of urgency".

Up to 50 sailors are sleeping onboard ships during their time off, because they can't afford soaring rents and there is not enough proper accommodation at the naval base in Cork.

Tánaiste Simon Coveney has asked environmental campaigners “not to turn what is a hugely positive story in Cork harbour into something negative”, amid a row over the new park on Haulbowline Island.

Both the Government and Cork County Council have refused to say why they did not publish warnings they received about the safety of Haulbowline Island over two years ago.

A former toxic dump is set to open as a public park in the heart of Cork Harbour next year following one of the largest environmental clean-ups in the State's history.

Cork County Council has unveiled an ambitious €723m plan for housing, roads, and other major projects which it proposes to undertake up to 2020.

Pope Francis is to meet members of the Naval Service when he visits in August so he can acknowledge their role in saving thousands of migrants from drowning in the Mediterranean Sea.

A GoFundMe campaign has been launched to help campaigners continue their near-20-year fight against controversial plans for an incinerator in Cork Harbour.

Forts and Martello towers dotted around Cork Harbour and what was once the biggest gunpowder factory in the British empire could soon be designated as Unesco World Heritage sites.

A rising tide lifts all boats and the end of the recession will lead to a significant increase in the number of yachts competing in one of the country’s premier sailing events.

The Department of Defence has yet to terminate the employment of a civilian security officer who was linked to the self-styled New IRA and is serving five years in jail for possession of firearms and ammunition.

An official complaint has been made to the Health & Safety Authority (HSA) about the dire conditions soldiers guarding Portlaoise Prison have to endure.

The Department of Defence has been accused of ‘Yes Minister’ style answers to key questions about changes to how the naval services are deployed in the Mediterranean.

It’s Sunday afternoon and the currach races at the Inishbofin Maritime Festival are in full flow. There’s a slow breeze blowing in around the ruin of the old Cromwellian barracks and across the harbour.

An Bord Pleanála shortages ‘not to blame for Indaver ruling delay’

A Port of Cork company’s five-year plan to expand its cruise liner trade is ahead of schedule with a record-breaking number of luxury passenger ships due next year.

The Port of Cork plans to build a new cruise line terminal at the deepwater quay in Cobh at an estimated cost up to €15m — and it could be operational by 2020.

A consortium has been appointed to transform the former Haulbowline steelworks dump into a multimillion-euro park and tourist attraction.

The Naval Service made its first migrant rescue this year as the weather improved off the coast of Libya yesterday, prompting people-smugglers to push thousands of frightened refugees, corralled for weeks in holding compounds, into deathtrap vessels onto the Mediterranean Sea.

A request under the Freedom of Information Act has been lodged with the Department of Defence in an attempt to establish why a Naval Service ship was delayed by more than three weeks from leaving her base to save migrants in the Mediterranean Sea.

Cork County Council is demanding that An Bord Pleanála immediately release further information supplied to it by Indaver so objectors will have time to properly analyse it.

A paperwork blunder has forced an Irish Naval refugee rescue ship to remain berthed in Cork Harbour, days after it was due to set sail for the Mediterranean.

The Government has committed to spending €61m on turning part of Haulbowline Island in Cork Harbour into a public park, despite a report commissioned by the Office of Public Works (OPW), which concluded it was an unsuitable location for use as a public amenity.

Crosshaven will be thronged with thousands of people over the next few days as sailing events for Volvo Cork Week kick off surrounded by onshore entertainment and with a special flypast by the air corps.

The LÉ Róisín has completed a 12-week humanitarian mission in the Mediterranean Sea during which she rescued 1,263 migrants and recovered the bodies of four people.

An environmental lobby group is warning that cutbacks or delays to the proposed clean-up of a toxic waste dump in Cork Harbour would breach a legal agreement between Ireland and the European Commission (EC).

The organisation which represents the majority of the Naval Service says there can be no delay in cleaning up a toxic waste dump close to its headquarters in Cork harbour and claimed the Government has “a legal and moral obligation to safeguard those employed in the area”.

Plans for a major clean-up of the former Irish Steel site on Haulbowline Island in Cork Harbour could be delayed after the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform raised concerns about the scale of expenditure on the project.

Work is due to start shortly on clearing gantry cranes and other scrap metal from a toxic dump in Cork harbour, as a prelude to making the site safe and transforming it into a public park with playing pitches.

An evacuation route put forward by Indaver Ireland to facilitate movement of personnel off Haulbowline Island in the event of an emergency involves use of a road that is gated, with the gates locked during certain periods.

Indaver has rejected Air Corps safety fears over the proposed incinerator for Cork Harbour and said existing regulations and flying behaviours would mean little or no risk to aircraft.