MARINE LEISURE is placing voluntary lifeboat crews under increasing pressure around the coastline, according to latest Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) statistics. There are increasing difficulties in recruiting volunteers. Just over 500 people were rescued by RNLI lifeboats in the first six months of this year - some 75 more than the number of people saved over the same period last year.
Busiest stations were Dún Laoghaire in south Dublin, which launched 36 times, and Crosshaven in Cork, which launched 25 times. The two stations, both close to popular watersport locations, brought a total of 79 people to safety.
Other stations under pressure included Valentia lifeboat in Co Kerry, which rescued 35 people in the first six months of 2008, and Portaferry, Co Down, which rescued 30 people.
North Mayo's Ballyglass station, which is due to open its new lifeboat house next month, saved a total of 20 people in 10 call-outs in the first half of this year.
The volunteer crews attached to the 43 Irish RNLI lifeboat stations cover the entire Irish coastline, along with inland areas of activity on Lough Derg in Tipperary and Lough Erne in Enniskillen. In total, lifeboats launched on 439 occasions during the six-month period to end of June this year.
The RNLI has found it increasingly difficult to attract experienced volunteers, due in part to pressures on the fishing industry and the impact of this on coastal communities. An RNLI spokeswoman said that the Irish situation was not as critical as that in Britain, but training did, and would, account for a significant proportion of the budget for this reason.
"As a charity we rely on the generosity of the public to ensure that our lifeboats can launch at any hour of any day to any emergency," the RNLI's newly- appointed divisional inspector for Ireland Martyn Smith said yesterday. "This can range from a child getting into difficulty a few miles from shore to a commercial fishing vessel in trouble 80 miles out in force 10 gales,"he said.
The organisation's SOS fundraising day takes place on January 30th, 2009, across Britain and Ireland. Individuals, businesses and schools are being asked to plan their own events around the theme, with ideas already in train ranging from a raffled day off work (Sponsor Our Skive) to a sponsored silence or talk (Sound or Silence).
Fundraising packs for the RNLI SOS day are available for download on websitewww.rnli.ie/sos The sudden passing of Bord Iascaigh Mhara marine biologist Tomás Burke is to be marked at Conamara Sea Week tomorrow. The first memorial lecture in his honour is to be delivered by Dr Cillian Roden in the Renvyle House Hotel, Co Galway tomorrow night at 8pm, as part of the annual sea week programme. Further details are available from Conamara Environmental Education and Cultural Centre, Letterfrack, Co Galway at (095) 41034 or at www.ceecc.org
