New tall ship planned for Ireland

Plans have been unveiled for a new all-island tall ship for Ireland.

Ireland has been without an active sail training tall ship sing the Asgard 2 sank off the coast of Brittany in 2008.

The Atlantic Youth Trust wants to build a new steel-hulled vessel based on a 45-metre long ship built for a similar sailing trust in New Zealand.

The ship would be about twice the size of Asgard 2 and the estimated cost of building it is around 16 million euro.

Neil O'Hagan executive director of the Atlantic Youth Trust says that a tall ship journey can be transformative for young people.

"Over the course of a voyage of five or 10 days young people will be involved in all aspects of life on board from steering a ship to climbing the mast, cleaning the toilets, peeling potatoes," said Mr O'Hagan.

"Over the course of the 10 days everybody will find their role within that small community, and because it's quite a complex social environment, it's very transferable back to dry land."