The Department of the Marine today gave an Irish Ferries vessel the go-ahead to resume sailing after grounding it over safety concerns.
The department's inspectors carried out a safety audit on the MV Normandythis morning, after imposing a detention order on the vessel in Rosslare Harbour on Wednesday.
About 700 passengers on the MV Normandy were forced to switch to alternative services to reach their destination of Cherbourg in France.
The safety audit also disrupted the travel plans of around 130 people who were due to sail on the return journey to Ireland yesterday.
The ship is now able to resume its sailing schedule on December 27th, after the detention order was lifted.
The ship was detained after inspectors uncovered three safety deficiencies during a routine inspection.
"The deficiencies related to fire-fighting measures, safety management and crew safety training," a Marine Department spokesman said.
Irish Ferries said a technical fault was being repaired on the vessel on Wednesday evening when inspectors boarded the vessel and decided to seek a full safety audit.
The Department of the Marine insisted its random inspection was one of about 1,400 carried out by its Marine Survey Office each year.
Services resumed last week on the four vessels operated by Irish Ferries after being halted for several weeks over a bitter dispute between workers and management.