Your Friday evening catch-up

Good evening. Here’s a briefing on some of the stories and issues highlighted on irishexaminer.com today.

TOP STORIES - REFUGEE CRISIS

President Michael D Higgins has said the United Nations and European Union have failed tens of thousands of refugees and migrants dying and risking death for a new life. Elsewhere, an online campaign to offer support to refugees caught up in the current crisis has collected 6,090 bed pledges from all over Ireland in the last two days.

Bob Geldof says he is ashamed of Europe’s handling of the refugee crisis and he has offered to take in four families to assist in the growing crisis. The singer told Dave Fanning on RTE Radio 1 that that he is willing to accept four families into his homes in the UK to try to ease "this f***ing disgrace. This absolute, sickening disgrace".

IRELAND

More than five million cigarettes, with a retail value of €2.5m, have been seized by Revenue at the Port of Cork. The ’Eton’ brand cigarettes which were described on a ship’s manifest as "cardboard boxes" were uncovered in a container which had travelled from Malaysia via Singapore and Rotterdam.

Renua Ireland leader Lucinda Creighton is to make a formal complaint to gardaí over revelations that potentially vital files belonging to ex-Garda commissioner Martin Callinan were destroyed before they could be examined by the Fennelly report.