More than 300 volunteers joined over 200 members of the Irish Coastguard for the search, which extended from Curracloe in Wexford to Ardmore in Waterford.

The seven men have been missing since two trawlers, the Pere Charles and the Honeydew II, sank within hours of each other in stormy conditions 10 days ago.

Bad weather has hampered the recovery effort so far and the Irish Coastguard had to suspend the search earlier than intended yesterday due to force 10 winds, which were forecast to hit the area.

"We had to suspend it at 3pm yesterday as there is only 23 miles of beach along the search area and we wanted to get people off the cliff tops ahead of the high winds for safety reasons, " said Jim Griffin, Irish Coastguard area manager in Dunmore East. He said the search was one of the biggest Ireland had ever seen.

Coaches filled with volunteers from Kinsale and east Cork arrived in Dunmore East to take part in yesterday's search. An Irish Coastguard rescue helicopter also participated. "It is hoped that the Granuaile vessel will be in position over the dive site for the Pere Charles by 9pm on Monday night, " Griffin said. "If we get better weather on Tuesday we hope the divers can go down on Tuesday and Wednesday."

Five men - Tom and Pat Hennessy, Billy O'Connor, Pat Coady and Andriy Dyrin - are still missing from the Pere Charles.

Last night Lt Commander Terry Ward of the Navy said: "Our divers will remain on standby until conditions are right for diving. All our equipment is ready to go at a moment's notice so we just have to wait until we get an extended period of time to go dive."

Ward explained that a window of just a few hours is not long enough for the divers to make significant progress in retrieving the bodies.

"We have drawings of the Pere Charles combined with video footage taken during our initial dives and using these we have come up with a few strategies to explore the wreck further.

"The wreck is lying on its starboard side in good condition and no windows were broken in it so if the men were inside when it sank their bodies are probably still in the vessel."

Two men, Ger Bohan from Kinsale and Thomas Jagla from Poland, are still missing. "It is getting tougher every day for us, " Mr Bohan's distressed wife told the Sunday Tribune.