The Irish Coast Guard is today continuing to monitor a serious oil pollution incident off the south coast.
Latest reports say the oil slick off the Old Head of Kinsale covers an estimated 40 sq km of the Celtic Sea and could hit the Irish or British coastline within 16 days.
An estimate from British authorities last night was that some 522 tonnes of oil in the Celtic Sea was drifting in three separate slicks.
It was heading towards the south-east Irish coast, but could end up on the British coast, depending on wind and weather, within the next fortnight.
A 46,000 tonne Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov , the flagship of the Russian Navy, was refuelling in the area at the time of the incident.
A spill was picked up by the European Maritime Safety Agency's (EMSA) CleanSeaNet satellite monitoring system on Saturday.
Initially, the spill was believed to be small, but new images yesterday from both satellite and overflights taken some 40 miles south of the Old Head of Kinsale suggested that it was far larger than originally estimated.
The Russian Federation says it is carrying out an investigation into a serious oil pollution incident