An environmental assessment is underway this morning on the abandoned cargo ship that washed up on the Cork coast over the weekend.
Cork County Council is investigating whether oil or other hazards could leak from the MV Alta into the waters around Ballycotton Bay.
Contractors were due to board the MV Alta at low tide this morning - around 7am.
The ship had been adrift in the Atlantic since September 2018, after its engine failed and its crew members were rescued by the US Coast Guard.
The Irish Independent's Ralph Riegel said it had been assumed that the ship had sunk or had drifted north - but it reappeared when Storm Dennis hit over the weekend.
He explained: "Lo and behold, out of the gales and the wind and the rain, the MV Alta appeared.
"On a very high tide, coupled with a storm surge, it was driven onto rocks to the west of Ballycotton, the well-known fishing port."
Cork County Council is continuing to ask people to stay away from the wreck location as it is on a dangerous and inaccessible stretch of coastline and is in an unstable condition.
