Families have waited for vessel’s raising since January

THE lifting of the Pere Charles marked the culmination of a struggle which began on January 10 for the families of crewmen Andriy Dyrin, 32, Billy O’Connor, 52, Tom Hennessy, 30, Pat Hennessy, 48, and Pat Coady, 27, when the trawler sank while on its way back from a successful day’s fishing in the Celtic Sea.

Just a few miles from its destination at Dunmore East, it sank about 3km from Hook Head following a rapid deterioration in weather conditions.

A 17-day search failed to yield any bodies, as did a navy dive in difficult circumstances. Since then, the families of the men mounted a campaign to get the trawler lifted and threatened to run candidates in Waterford, Wexford and Kerry — home of the Hennessys — in the general election.