Of the two aircraft mentioned earlier, EC-ITP is clearly marked with a blue tail (as in the Cork photo) but a recent photo of EC-GPS shows it in white markings ...
Photos: Fairchild SA-227AC Metro III Aircraft Pictures | Airliners.net
My understanding of instrument approaches, at least those I do, is that you can make as many attempts as you feel safe to do so, taking account of fuel remaining, visibility, aiport status (ie open) and any ATC instructions. I was once on a Virgin 747 that took 6 attempts to get into San Francisco. So no reason why this Metroliner crew couldn't make 3 attempts (other than the reported viz and cloudbase seem incredibly poor).
And to the news hacks logged in, runways 17 and 35 are in opposing directions (170 and 350 deg)