THE body of a fisherman, who spent most of his working life in London, has been recovered off the coast of Cork.
Michael John O'Brien, 69, died after being out on his 16ft boat off the coast near Schull.
His body was found yesterday after an exhaustive two-day search.
It is understood Mr O'Brien's son raised the alarm after he did not returned home eight hours after setting sail.
Mr O'Brien, originally from Rossbrin, Ballydehob near Schull in the southwest of Cork, would return routinely from his home in London to fish off the coast.
Fianna Fáil senator Denis O'Donovan, who is also Chairman of Seanad Éireann, told The Irish Post his partner knew the O'Brien family and that Mr O'Brien had returned home to see his mother.
"I understand he was home for a few weeks, his mother is quite elderly, which he does most years. I believe he is probably retired," he said.
"He was married in England and to the best of my knowledge he has two adult children. I do know that there is 16 of them and I would know one or two of his brothers."
Mr O'Brien's boat was found near Long Island on Monday night after an exhaustive search, which included the Baltimore offshore and inshore RNLI crews, the LÉ Orla, the Coast Guard Rescue helicopter, Goleen Coast Guard and the Schull Coastal Rescue Boat.
The search was called off at about 1.30am on Monday and resumed on Tuesday.
Mr O'Brien's body was then discovered at Ballydevlin Bay, between Ballyrisode and Goleen, by the crew of a local trawler at about 11.15am yesterday morning.
Speaking to Morning Ireland, Gerard O'Flynn from the Irish Coast Guard said there was nothing untoward about the weather conditions at the time the man went missing.
"Weather conditions were reasonably good, I would describe it as fresh south easterly wind, which is quite reasonable but on the upper scale for a boat of this size," he added.
