Sir, – Recognition by Minister for Transport Paschal Donohoe of the centenary and achievements of Valentia Coast Guard station is welcome ("Valentia Coast Guard marine rescue centre marks centenary", March 26th). Its sister station at Malin Head in Donegal quietly notched up its own bicentenary in 2005. Originally established in 1805 for naval communications, Lloyds took it over in 1835 and Marconi in 1902.
Of its many thousand operations to date, perhaps most notable and unsung was its crucial humanitarian intervention on the opening night of war in 1939, which helped save 1,306 of the 1,418 lives on board the Athenia, many of them children.
Under attack from a U-boat 250 miles out in the Atlantic, the Donegal station picked up its weak distress call. Contravening ill-conceived prior instructions not to intervene in hostilities, Malin Head opened up with its powerful transmitters and summoned assistance to the stricken liner.
I hope the Minister’s tributes in Valentia are a return to a recognition that the tide comes in all around Ireland and not just up the Liffey and the Lee. – Yours, etc,
NORMAN FULLAM,
Baily,
Co Dublin.