The search for a helicopter that has gone missing over the Irish Sea has been partially suspended.

Five people were on board the privately-owned aircraft, which left Milton Keynes en route to Dublin.

Radar contact was lost and a search operation was launched shortly after 4pm yesterday afternoon.

Coast guard operations are being hampered by bad weather, with visibility low.

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Noirín O'Sullivan will be asked to explain later why she believes the false figures in Garda traffic data may extend into further areas of policing.

The Garda Commissioner is due before the justice committee in the Dáil this morning.

According to a leaked opening statement, the Commissioner will offer her sincere apologies to the public for the “grave mistakes and wrongdoing” over the past ten years that led to the latest revelations.

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Cars seized by Gardaí worth €1 million have been destroyed in a fire on their compound lot.

The blaze broke out at the site near Haggardstown in County Louth yesterday evening.

There were nearly 100 cars stored in the warehouse at the time, and the cause of the fire is still unknown.

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A new service being launched today will allow Irish citizens to renew their passports online.

The facility will only be available for adults renewing their travel documents - children and first-time applicants will have to go through the usual process.

It is good news for customers, but worrying for post offices that derive an important revenue stream from passport services.

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The British government will today set out its plans to end the dominance of EU law.

A paper will be published this morning ahead of the planned Great Repeal Bill, which will try to organise the repatriation of legislation when the UK formally leaves the European Union.

The bill will do two things: firstly repeal the European Communities Act (1972) which took Britain into the bloc, and also copy up to 20,000 pieces of EU law onto the UK statute book.