A Russian and her 19-year-old son found drifting in a small boat 25 miles off Baltimore in west Cork yesterday morning were rescued and discharged from Bantry Hospital last night.
It is understood that their asylum application is being processed through the normal channels.
Gardai are still trying to establish if they got into difficulties while out on a pleasure trip in the hired boat or whether there was some other motive involved.
They arrived from Belfast last Wednesday, and it is believed that an application for asylum in Britain had already been turned down.
Mr Diarmuid Minahane, who runs a boat-hire company in Baltimore, confirmed yesterday that on a number of occasions last Wednesday the mother and son tried to hire one of his craft.
He said he would not allow them to go out because of weather conditions. They returned on Thursday and hired a 16 ft Orkney-class angling boat with an outboard. Mr Minahane later recovered his boat unharmed.
Mr Aidan Bush, of the Baltimore lifeboat service, told The Irish Times that when the tourists failed to return on Thursday evening the alarm was raised. South-westerly winds were blowing but, luckily, they were intercepted by a Baltimore fishing boat, the Falcon of York.
They were taken on board suffering from mild hypothermia, wrapped in blankets and given hot drinks. The Baltimore lifeboat then travelled the 25 miles to bring them back safely. At the pier in Baltimore, an ambulance was waiting and they were taken to Bantry Hospital for a precautionary check-up.