Gardai have launched an investigation into the sinking of an Irish trawler after a complaint from the boat's owner alleging his vessel was rammed by a French boat.
Gardai in Cobh last night questioned the skipper and crew of the steel-hulled French vessel, Rohellon, about the sinking of the Oileann Chleire 70 miles off Loop Head on Saturday.
And in a separate development, it emerged that the insurers of the Oileann Chleire have obtained an interim injunction preventing the Rohellon from leaving Irish jurisdiction.
In court yesterday the captain of the French trawler was convicted and fined £100 for a fishing offence.
Faye Diene (49) with an address at Lorient in France pleaded guilty at Riverstown District Court in Co Cork to retaining undersized fish on board his boat.
The State Solicitor for East Cork, Mr John Brosnan told Judge Michael Patwell that the offence was "a technical one" as just 7.4 per cent of the catch of megrim were undersized.
The normal levels for indictment in the higher court was 20 per of the catch, said Mr Brosnan, adding that many of the fish were just 1 cm short of the legal size of 28 cms.
The offence was detected after the naval vessel LE Aisling stopped the Rohellon following a collision with the Oileann Chleire fishing out of Schull.
The Oileann Chleire sank rapidly following the collision 70 miles off Loop Head in Co Clare and her five-man crew were taken aboard the Rohellon before being airlifted by an IMES helicopter.
Judge Michael Pattwell - who had granted a 48-hour detention order against the Rohellon, its captain and crew on Monday - fined Diene £100 for the offence.