MARITIME MISSION

2022 One of Busiest Years for The Irish Coast Guard

With 2,699 incidents, 2022 was the second busiest year for the Irish Coast Guard in the last ve years, according to their annual end of year summary of statistics.

e incident count recorded by the maritime emergency organisation’s three Rescue Coordination Centres at Malin Head, Valentia Island and MRCC Dublin, covers the range of services provided by the Coast Guard, which include maritime search and rescue, maritime casualty and pollution preparedness and response.

ey also assisted An Garda Síochána in open country search and mountain rescue, and the National Ambulance Service in providing an Air Ambulance and Helicopter Medical Emergency Service (HEMS) both inland and to island communities.

Missions

August proved to be an incredibly busy month, with a 10% increase in recorded responses compared to the same period in 2021.

e Coast Guard’s 44 units were mobilised on 1,141 separate occasions, with their helicopters operating out of bases at Dublin, Waterford, Shannon and Sligo conducting a total of 829 missions, while the community inshore rescue service was launched on 96 occasions.

In terms of lives saved, which the Coast Guard de nes as “assistance provided that prevented loss of life, severe risk to life, or protracted hospitalisation”, critical assistance was provided to 559 persons over the course of the year.

e Royal National Lifeboat Institution also had a very busy year, with their lifeboats launched on 910 occasions.

Assistance

In keeping with recent trends, recreational cra and swimmers were the group most in need of help with coordinated responses from the Coast Guard and RNLI. ere were is included providing assistance with breakdowns at sea, and medical evacuations from vessels of all nationalities within the Irish exclusive economic zone. ere were 57 incidents involving cargo, tanker or merchant vessels, while there were 27 incidents involving passenger vessels.

293 responses to incidents involving recreational vessels on both the Atlantic coast and Irish Sea, as well as on inland waterways. is category includes yachts, motorboats, cabin cruisers, kayaks, rigid in atable boats, punts, and small in atables.

Almost 500 incidents involved commercial vessels, of which 117 were shing vessels.

Development

A highlight of the year was the start of construction of a new Coast Guard Station at Bunmahon, Co Waterford in September, which will when complete provide vastly superior modern facilities for the 18 volunteers who operate from the area.

Minister Hildegarde Naughton, who had special responsibility for the Irish Coast Guard, and Minister of State for the OPW Patrick O’Donovan were both on hand to “turn the sod”, with Minister Naughton saying: “It is essential that we have Coast Guard stations, vehicles and equipment that are t for purpose. e Irish Coast Guard provides a critical service for Irish people saving life at sea and protecting the marine environment.

e service is provided by almost 1,000 volunteers and I am absolutely committed to supporting their work through the delivery of modern and safe facilities here in Waterford; a fact clearly demonstrated in our investment of €5.3million today.” e Minister also paid tribute to the members of the Bunmahon Unit speci cally, saying: “ e Bunmahon Coast Guard unit is a key resource for the Irish Coast Guard in delivering its search and rescue mission in the Waterford area. e unit has shoreline and cli rescue capabilities and works closely with its ank units at Ardmore and Tramore. e Waterford team here has responded to many search and cli rescue emergencies down through the years, both maritime and inland, in rural communities and in the larger townlands of Tramore and Dungarvan. e unit has also assisted other Principal Emergency Services – An Garda Siochana, National Ambulance Service and Fire Service.”

Appreciation

Speaking about the end of year summary, Minister of State Jack Chambers paid tribute to “all of the volunteers and sta for their professionalism and commitment” throughout the year.

“I want to particularly recognise the work of the Watch O cers at rescue coordination centres in Malin, Valentia, and MRCC Dublin, and Coast Guard support sta who, to their great credit, maintained an uninterrupted service throughout the COVID-19 challenge,” he said. “I look forward to meeting with the sta and volunteers of the Coast Guard to see this work rst hand.”

Message

As well as their outstanding work in maritime assistance and rescue, the Irish Coast Guard also worked tirelessly to reiterate its core safety message of “Stay A oat – Stay in Touch” across all media platforms. Public safety warnings were also released to raise awareness around water safety in both the hot summer months and cold winter season.

is public safety messaging continued to be promoted via the revamped www.safetyonthewater.gov.ie website, as well as on social media platforms, in conjunction with stakeholders from the Marine Safety Communications SubGroup (Coast Guard, Water Safety Ireland, RNLI, Bord Iascaigh Mhara, is message highlights the importance of never engaging in any commercial or recreational boating activity without wearing a life jacket or personal otation device, coupled with a capacity to raise the alarm via a VHF radio, personal locator beacon or Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB).

Met Éireann, Commissioners of Irish Lights and Irish Sailing).

“ is should be supported by informing shore-based colleagues of intended activity and anticipated return time,” the Coast Guard states. “Mobile phones should not be considered as a suitable substitute, or be relied upon as the only means of emergency communication at sea.”