First for Navy with overseas aid mission

History will be made this morning when the Naval Service will for the first time aid in an overseas humanitarian mission.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny, Defence Minister Simon Coveney, and other political and military dignitaries will gather at the Naval Service headquarters in Haulbowline, Co Cork, to mark the departure of LÉ Eithne and her 70-strong crew on a voyage to the Mediterranean to prevent migrants drowning.

The UN estimates 60,000 people have tried to cross the Mediterranean so far this year and nearly 2,000 have drowned.