Minister’s visit to Cork cancelled

Ireland’s European Affairs Minister has expressed sympathy with the families of the victims of yesterday’s terror attack after his French counterpart, Harlem Désir, cancelled a planned visit to Cork.

Mr Désir, the French secretary of state for European affairs, was due to arrive in Cork today for what was to have been the first official visit to the city by a senior French government minister in several years.

But the visit was cancelled last night following the gun attack on the Paris offices of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, in which at least 12 people died.