A safety audit is to be carried out today on an Irish Ferries ship which was detained yesterday at Rosslare Harbour by inspectors from the Department of the Marine.
About 700 passengers who had been due to sail to the French port of Cherbourg last night on the MV Normandy were accommodated on alternative services via Britain. A department spokesman said the ship had been detained after surveyors uncovered three safety deficiencies during a routine inspection.
The deficiencies related to fire-fighting measures, safety management and crew safety training. It was up to the company to correct the defects and then seek a reinspection, he said.
An Irish Ferries spokesman said the ship had been due to undertake its last round-trip to France last night before the Christmas holiday. At least 130 passengers had been due to depart Cherbourg on the return sailing to Ireland tonight. They are to be accommodated on alternative services via Britain.
The company spokesman said a technical fault was being repaired yesterday when inspectors boarded the vessel and decided to seek a full, independent safety audit.
That would be carried out today by the shipping certification company, Germanischer Lloyd.
The department said its inspection was a random one and about 1,400 such checks are carried out by its marine survey office each year.
Official records indicate that both the French and Irish authorities, however, have taken an increased interest in the Normandy since crew on board the vessel were outsourced at the beginning of this year. In a move which led to a strike by Siptu ships officers a year ago, the company replaced its unionised crew on the ship with cheaper labour from Eastern Europe.
It also reregistered the ship in the Bahamas. The company's subsequent decision to introduce similar measures for its Irish Sea vessels led to the more recent dispute, which was settled last week.
Records show that the inspection carried out by the department yesterday was the second such examination of the Normandy this year.
Prior to the previous inspection in July, there had been no such examinations of the ship by the Irish authorities since 1999. French officials have also carried out two inspections of the ship this year, having visited it four times over the previous six years.
The ship was also inspected while in dry dock in Belfast last February, and detained for two days while deficiencies were corrected. It has not been detained before by inspectors from the Republic.
The recent dispute at the company was settled after the sides agreed to enter a legally-binding agreement on pay and conditions for seafarers. That agreement was being finalised last night in talks between the company and Siptu at the Labour Relations Commission.