A body has been recovered by Navy divers taking part in the search for missing fisherman Willie Whelan.

The body was brought to the surface off the southeast coast this afternoon and is now on the ILV (Irish Lights Vessel) Granuaile.

Divers resumed their attempt this morning to recover the body from the sunken trawler, the Alize.

The search for Mr Whelan, 41, from Saltmills, Fethard-on-Sea in Co Wexford, has been ongoing for almost three weeks and a body was located by members of the Hook Sub Aqua Club on Wednesday.

Since then, a team of divers from the Irish Naval Service, who had carried out extensive mapping and preparatory work at the site off Hook Head, have been in the area.

They carried out a number of dives yesterday afternoon, after deploying a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to capture footage of the wreck of the Alize on the seabed, before suspending the operation last night.

Dives got under way again today, with the naval team of up to 15 divers using the Granuaile as a base.

The naval vessel, LÉ Samuel Beckett, gardaí and the Irish Coast Guard were also been involved in the operation.

The 20-day search also included volunteers from the RNLI as well as search and rescue helicopter crews, local volunteers and boat owners.

The Alize sank at about 10.30pm on Saturday 4 January when Joe Sinnott, 65, and Willie Whelan were returning to harbour from a fishing trip.

Mr Sinnott, from Kilmore in Co Wexford, was taken from the sea by crew members of the R117 search and rescue helicopter and pronounced dead in hospital.