The Limerick family of an aid worker, Ms Anne Mulcahy, were last night celebrating the news that she and a number of colleagues had been released following their 11 day detention in Ethiopia.
Ms Mulcahy (31) was detained by the Ethiopian authorities after the group in which she was travelling strayed over the border from Somalia into Ethiopia.
Negotiations between the Irish and Ethiopian authorities have been taking place since her detention.
Ms Mulcahy, who is a field director with Save The Children in Somalia, was freed after intensive negotiations involving the Minister of State for Overseas Development Aid, Ms Joan Burton.
The freed aid workers were being flown on a specially chartered flight from Somalia to Nairobi yesterday.
Ms Mulcahy joined Save The Children in 1985.