Teams of Naval Service and Garda divers are hoping to locate the bodies of five missing crew members of the Père Charlestoday, while shoreline and sea searches are to continue in Waterford and Wexford for two missing crew members of the Honeydew II.
The seven fishermen have been missing since their trawlers sank during storms last week. Further storms have prevented divers from locating the vessels and recovering any bodies.
The Irish Lights ship, Granuaile, arrived in Dunmore East last night and will serve as a diving platform for 13 Naval Service and 12 Garda divers as they try to reach the wreck of the Père Charles, which sank two miles off Hook Head in Co Wexford on January 10th.
Lieut Cdr Terry Ward of the Naval Service said the Granuaileshould provide a stable diving platform for the divers. The weather is due to improve for several hours this morning.
Lt Cdr Ward said the Granuailehad taken on board a remote-operated vehicle, which is like a mini-submarine operated remotely and which can transmit TV images of the seabed back to a monitoring team on the control ship. The dynamic positioning system should help the Granuailemaintain its position on the exact co-ordinates where it is believed the Père Charleswent down, he said.
Skipper Tom Hennessy, his uncle, Pat Hennessy, Pat Coady, Billy O'Connor and Andriy Dyrin from Ukraine all perished when the Père Charlessank while returning to its home port of Dunmore East after a day's herring fishing.
Minister for the Marine Noel Dempsey visited Dunmore East yesterday and met the search co-ordinators and some of the anxious relatives of the missing crewmen.
Irish Coast Guard search co-ordinator Ger Hegarty said the weather forecast should see winds lessen to force 3 today after hitting force 7 and gale force 8 yesterday and Sunday, and should result in the sea being calm enough for four to five hours to allow the dive go ahead.
Mr Hegarty said that about a dozen trawlers had gone out yesterday to search for the Honeydew IIand her missing skipper, Ger Bohan from Kinsale, and his Polish crewman, Tomas Jagla, while the Irish Coast Guard helicopter carried out a sweep of the area.
Dunmore East Coast Guard area officer Jim Griffin said the coastal search teams were focusing on Ballytigh Bay just west of Kilmore, as the bulk of the debris believed to be from the Honeydew IIis being washed ashore there at low tide.
"It was there that the timber with part of the boat's name was washed up so it's an area we are focusing on," said Mr Griffin, adding that the hope now is that missing Mr Bohan and Mr Jagla will also be carried ashore in the same area.
While many searchers believe that the amount of timbers being washed up suggest the Honeydew IIhas broken up, Kinsale trawler agent and friend of Ger Bohan, Eamon O'Neill, believes the boat may still be partly intact and thus more easily located.
