Efforts have been stepped up to secure the release of an Irish aid worker who was kidnapped in Sudan.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs is dispatching a team of officials to the country immediately to head up negotiations to have Sharon Commins freed.
The 32-year-old from Clontarf in Dublin was snatched by a group of armed men in Darfur, along with a colleague from Uganda.
Minister Micheál Martin says the negotiating team will leave for Khartoom on the Government jet tonight.