#FLOODING - The clean-up has begun across Cork city and county after heavy flooding over the past two days resulted in millions of euro worth of damage, as The Irish Times reports.

Debris blocking a rubbish screen on a new culvert on the Douglas river has been blamed for the more than four feet of flood water that swamped the suburb of Douglas south of Cork city.

Elsewhere in the city, six people were evacuated from homes in the Meadow Brook Estate in Glanmire after the Glashaboy river burst its banks.

RTÉ News - which has a photo gallery of affected areas in and around Cork - reports that electricity is being restored to most customers after widespread power outages.

Met Éireann's Eoin Sherlock said that nearly 50mm of rain fell in a single six-hour period on Wednesday night - more than two-thirds of the monthly average rainfall for June.

Meanwhile, in Belfast politicians face public anger over flash flooding overwhelmed the city and left major routes impassable and sparked concerns over rising sewage water.

According to the Irish Independent, Northern Ireland emergency services reported more than 700 call-outs linked to the flooding in greater Belfast alone.

Minister for Regional Development Danny Kennedy, who is responsible for the North's roads and water system, said that "no infrastructure would have been able to cope with the level of rainfall that we have seen.

"It simply isn't designed to cope with those volumes of rain."

#DEEPWATER OIL - Tullow Oil has struck oil off the Ivory Coast in an encouraging development for the Irish-founded oil exploration company, Bloomberg reports.

The UK-based firm says its Paon-1X deepwater exploration well encountered 31 metres of net oil in a gross interval of 74 metres of turbidite sands, suggesting that the well is a continuous column of light oil.

The discovery, which extends recent finds made in nearby Ghana, is "encouraging for our future exploration efforts" says Tullow Oil's Angus McCoss.

Tullow's shares rose 2.1% on the London stock exchange at the news earlier this month. Bloomberg has more on the story HERE.

The firm's successes in West Africa have been reflected closer to home by competing oil exploration business Providence Resources, which recently struck it lucky off the south coast of Cork with an oil flow that could be worth billions of euro to the Irish economy.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, oil started to flow successfully from the company's Barryroe structure in the north Celtic Sea one month after confirming the presence of light oil with its first appraisal well.

#NEWS UPDATE - BBC News reports that Carrickfergus Sailing Club in Co Antrim has been destroyed in a fire overnight.

Firefighters were called to the scene at Rodgers Quay shortly after 11.30pm last night Friday 22 June.

No injuries have been reported in the incident, and the cause of the blaze is not yet known.

East Antrim DUP MLA David Hilditch told the BBC that the fire is "a major blow this morning for Carrickfergus".

"Obviously there will be some major disruption to our activities," said the club's Commodore Roger Woodward in a statement on the club's Facebook page.

"At this early stage the way ahead is not clear, but please be assured that the committee will be totally determined that the club will recover strengthened from this disaster."

#NEWS UPDATE - The body found in a river in the Polish town of Bydgoszcz has been confirmed to be that of missing Irish football fan James Nolan.

As RTÉ News reports, Nolan was last seen in the early hours of Sunday 17 June while socialising with Irish friends at a bar in the town.

It is believed that he fell into the River Brdo at some point while walking back to their hotel. His body was recovered some 200m from his last confirmed sighting.

The Irish Times repeated local media reports that there was no sign of injuries on the body, but the cause of death could not yet be determined, pending the results of a postmortem due to take place yesterday.

Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Eamon Gilmore has expressed his sympathies to the family of the 21-year-old environmental engineering student from Blessington, Co Wicklow.

He added that the Irish Ambassador to Poland, Eugene Hutchinson, is remaining with the Nolan family in Bydgoszcz.

#NEWS UPDATE - A Northern Irish sailing charity has been fined by a court for failing to keep proper records, following an investigation into a sinking incident two years ago.

BBC News reports that the activities of the Ocean Youth Trust Northern Ireland Ltd were examined by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) after its 70ft Oyster ketch, Lord Rank, hit rocks near Kinbane Head on the Antrim coast in June 2010 while taking part in a charity fundraiser.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, six people - including three presenters from Downtown Radio who had been broadcasting from the boat - were rescued from the vessel by RNLI lifeboat crews. No injuries were reported.

The MCA launched an inquiry into the trust's activities following the Lord Rank accident, and issued a formal caution to the skipper of the boat.

The trust had no charges brought against them in relation to the sinking of the Lord Rank.

Unrelated to that incident, the investigation subsequently uncovered omissions in the trust's logs and records on several days over a six-week period in 2009.

In court, a defence solicitor acting for the Ocean Youth Trust said it had accepted its failures and had taken steps to improve the running of its operation.

A fine of £250 out of a maximum £50,000 was imposed by the judge, who acknowledged the good work the charity had done with young people in Northern Ireland.

In a statement, the Ocean Youth Trust Northern Ireland Ltd said: “We thank all concerned and welcome the result. We are proud of our safety record and have taken over 10,000 young people to sea without injury.

"[The trust] is a charity which relies heavily upon volunteerism and the trustees wish to thank the legal team, staff, trainees, ports, government departments and the volunteers for their ongoing support.

"We look forward to a year of great excitement for the maritime community in Ireland.”

#MARINE NOTICE - The latest Marine Notice from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport (DTTAS) outlines the standards of materials, fixtures and fittings acceptable for use on class-exempt unlicensed vessels, defined as boats carrying passengers for the purpose of angling on smooth water voyages.

The notice is supplementary to the Licensing of Passenger Boats (Exemption) Regulations 2002 and the subsequent amendment of the same year, and it supersedes the particulars of Marine Notice No 1 of 2003.

The standards outlined within require that the hull, machinery and equipment of any vessel should be properly designed, fit for its intended purpose and in good condition so as to ensure to the safety of all on board. 

Guidance is provided on what is to be considered adequate, suitable and approved in relation to the hull, machinery, items, fixtures and fittings on any vessel.

Generally, any item of equipment that bears the Marine Equipment Directive Mark of Conformity is considered complying with the 2002 regulations.

The notice also provides direction on pre-departure safety checks and briefings, and defines the appropriate areas of operation for the class exemption.

Complete details for all boat builders, boat repairers, owners and users are included in Marine Notice No 27 of 2012, a PDF of which is available to read and download HERE.

#NEWS UPDATE - More than three decades after their whirlwind romance, an American sailor is trying to reconnect with his long-lost Irish love.

As World Irish reports, Jarvis Boykin was on shore leave from the USS Mount Whitney when he he me the "gorgeous little strawberry blonde" at a nightclub in Dublin in 1976.

"We spent as much together as we could for those nine days that I was there," Boykin told the Mooney show on RTÉ Radio 1.

The pair exchanged letters for a time, but after the 1979 postal strike they lost touch, and Boykin later lost the woman's contact information.

But last week Boykin contacted Mooney from his home in North Carolina to appeal for anyone who can help in finding his lost love.

World Irish has more on the story HERE.

#NEWS UPDATE - A Donegal TD is encouraging the county's marine stakeholders to submit suggestions for the Government's upcoming Integrated Marine Plan, as previously reported on Afloat.ie.

The plan, which will be published in the summer, "will be a national agenda for developing our country’s marine potential, across tourism, shipping, leisure, fisheries and other sectors," said Joe McHugh TD.

The Dáil deputy noted "it is significant" that Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Minister for the Marine Simon Coveney are "dealing with this personally" as "previous Governments did not give this type of prioritisation to the industry".

He added: “I encourage Donegal marine stakeholders who see potential for national development in the fisheries industry, sea tourism, marine leisure, oil production, renewable energy production, deep sea fisheries and in various other areas to make submissions to the Integrated Marine Plan."

More information on the Integrated Marine Plan can be found at www.oceanwealth.ie.

#NEWS UPDATE - The Irish Petroleum Industry Association (IPIA) has proposed a suite of measures aimed at tackling the problem of illegal diesel washing in Ireland.

In a statement, the industry body for Ireland's fuel industry says that the practice is costing the Exchequer as much as €155 million annually in lost fuel duty.

"While other jurisdictions have to tackle this sort of fraud, the sheer scale of criminal washing of diesel is a particularly Irish disease," it said.

The IPIA's recommendations include the introduction of "a strong regulatory regime" to control the sale of rebated fuel, a new market for off-road diesel that is harder to disguise or remove, the closure of unlicenced filling stations, and a "radical overhaul" of the currently "absurd" penalties for offending retailers.

The Irish Angling Development Alliance (IADA) has fully backed the IPIA's proposals, citing the dangers of toxic waste byproducts from diesel washing operations.

"This toxic waste has been dumped illegally across the country, where it can enter the water table, not only seriously polluting water courses but also clean drinking water supplies."

#NEWS UPDATE - British boat users are risking big fines if they sail their craft outside UK waters due to new laws on the use of red diesel, the Daily Telegraph reports.

New laws coming into force on 1 April "will require anyone moving into international waters to sign a declaration that their boat is not being powered by red diesel".

Red-dyed diesel is used by farmers and commercial fishermen throughout the UK at a lower rate of duty. It is also widely used by recreational boaters and yacht owners, as is green diesel by Irish pleasure boaters, though such users have been required to pay the full rate of tax for a number of years now.

However, the European Union is now clamping down on the use of dyed diesel.

The decision by Brussels is causing consternation among the yachting community, which argues that unmarked or 'white' diesel is not widely available in harbours and marinas.

And concerns remain over the presence of biofuels in white diesel which, as previously reported on Afloat.ie, can be harmful to marine engines.

The Daily Telegraph has more on the story HERE.