LÉ Niamh rescues 256 migrants in the Mediterranean.

The ship has also taken on board a further 114 migrants from a Médecins Sans Frontiéres vessel.

The LÉ Niamh is expected to drop the combined 370 migrants to Palermo in Italy tomorrow morning.

Meanwhile, the Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald has said the first of the 600 migrants from Syria and Eritrea Ireland has pledged to accept will be arriving from September onwards.