Lorna Siggins
Lorna Siggins is a print and radio reporter, and a former Irish Times western correspondent. She is the author of Search and Rescue: True stories of Irish Air-Sea Rescues and the Loss of R116 (2022); Everest Callling (1994) on the first Irish Everest expedition; Mayday! Mayday! (2004); and Once Upon a Time in the West: the Corrib gas controversy (2010). She is also co-producer with Sarah Blake of the Doc on One "Miracle in Galway Bay" which recently won a Celtic Media Award
Bristow Ireland, the company taking over the new Irish Coast Guard search and rescue (SAR) helicopter contract says, it has reached an agreement with trade union Unite to ensure the “smooth transition of special helicopter engineers” to the company. “It…
Government ministers have announced Ireland’s first marine national park involving some 70,000 acres of Kerry’s land and sea. The new park, Páírc Náisiúnta na Mara, Ciarraí, is centred around Corca Dhuibhne in Co Kerry and includes the Conor Pass, the…
MCIB Says Corrib Rowing Training Which Went Wrong Posed "Threat of Death Or Serious Injury"
18th April 2024 MCIB
The Marine Casualty Investigation Board (MCIB) has said that a training session which went wrong on the river Corrib and resulted in the loss of two competitive rowing craft “posed a threat of death or serious injury” to those involved.…
Puffins May Benefit From Closure of Industrial Sand Eel Fishery in North Sea and Scottish Waters
17th April 2024 Marine Wildlife
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) anticipates that puffins will benefit from the closure last month of the industrial fishery for sand eels in the North Sea and Scottish waters. The closure of the fishery from March…
Philip Bartlett has been appointed Bristow Ireland’s director of Irish search and rescue (SAR) helicopter and fixed-wing aviation. “Bartlett will be responsible for leading the Bristow Ireland team responsible for delivering life-saving missions across the country,” the company says. Bristow…
Oceans of Hope Challenge Founder Robert Munns On Sailing with MS And Its First Irish Event
8th April 2024 Wavelength Podcast
When duty marina manager Robert Munns had a chance meeting with a Danish doctor on a pontoon at Brighton some years ago, it changed his life. Munns had been diagnosed by multiple sclerosis (MS) some time before, and the Dane…
A Journey Around the Sea Area Forecast with Meteorologist Joanna Donnelly
2nd April 2024 Wavelength Podcast
Met Éireann meteorologist Joanna Donnelly recently earned the title of “Optimist of the Year” from an Irish Times letter writer for her take on yet another wet spell. As correspondent Kate Power recalled, Donnelly had been describing a rainfront that…
Codling Wind Park Holds Open Days Before Submitting Planning Application
30th March 2024 Power From the Sea
The Codling Wind Park development team says it will give “exclusive updates” on its Irish Sea project at a three-day public event in Wicklow in mid-April. Those attending can “explore the final designs” of the wind park in the Irish…
Risk Awareness A Common Thread In Reducing Marine Accidents, Dutch Safety Board Says
30th March 2024 Ports & Shipping
Safety “on and around” ships will improve if the risks are prioritised correctly, the Dutch Safety Board’s chairman Chris van Dam has said. He was commenting on the safety board’s latest six-monthly shipping occurrences report. The report, covering incidents from…
The European Commission is seeking proposals to develop a fishing vessel equipped with alternative propulsion technologies and improved energy performance. The “demonstrator” vessel should foster energy transition in the fisheries sector, and has a budget of 2.2 million euro, drawn…
Irish Company Joins Seaweed and Offshore Wind Project in North Sea
19th March 2024 Power From the Sea
Irish renewable energy developer Simply Blue has joined a North Sea consortium working on a commercial scale seaweed farm located within an offshore wind farm. The “North Sea Farm 1 Project” involves ten hectares of water off the Netherlands coast,…
A Connemara shellfish business is using Brexit-related grant aid for a new packaging and labelling machine. Killary Fjord Shellfish in Leenane received grant aid of over €16,000 through Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) under the Brexit Sustainable Aquaculture Growth Scheme. The…
Northabout crew from the Irish yacht’s historic polar circumnavigation marked the 80th birthday of their expedition skipper Jarlath Cunnane in Mayo last weekend. The adventurer, boat builder and holder of the prestigious Blue Water Medal, was joined by fellow sailors…
Sharing Ireland's Sea Space is "an Opportunity, Not a Problem" - Marine Institute's New Chief Executive Dr Rick Officer
13th March 2024 Wavelength Podcast
Good news – there is a sustained trend towards improvement in fish stocks in Irish waters, the Marine Institute’s new chief executive, Dr Rick Officer says. Speaking to Wavelengths, he says “huge credit” is due to Irish fishers for weathering…
Case for New Inis Oírr Pier Bolstered By Delay in Collecting Island Referendum Votes
10th March 2024 Island News
The case made by Aran islanders for a new pier at Inis Oírr has been bolstered by a delay in collecting referendum vote boxes from the island. Four Aran island boxes did not arrive at the Galway West count centre…
RNLI Marks Bicentenary in Dublin on the Liffey and in London's Westminster Abbey
4th March 2024 RNLI Lifeboats
Dublin’s Tom Clarke bridge was lifted for an RNLI lifeboat on Monday morning – but it wasn’t in response to a tasking. The Dun Laoghaire Harbour lifeboat steamed up the Liffey and berthed on North Wall Quay to mark the…
Incident Where Fishing Crew Survived Asphyxiation Could Have Been "Far More Serious" - MCIB Report
1st March 2024 MCIB
An incident where two crew members of a fishing vessel were asphyxiated during a fish tank cleaning operation could have had a “far more serious outcome” but for a number of factors, the Marine Casualty Investigation Board (MCIB) has said.…
European Ombusdman Calls for Independent Inquiry Into Large Number of Mediterranean Deaths
1st March 2024 Rescue
A European Ombudsman inquiry into Frontex’s role in search and rescue operations says that the current rules leave the EU’s border and coast guard agency unable fully to fulfil its fundamental rights obligations. The inquiry says Frontex has no internal…
Industrial Strategy for Offshore Renewable Energy Due Shortly - Coveney
25th February 2024 Power From the Sea
Minister for Enterprise Simon Coveney has said he intends to publish an offshore renewable energy (ORE) industrial strategy very shortly. A draft of the strategy was due to be presented to Cabinet this week, he told the third annual national…
Keith Payne On How To Build A Dunfanaghy Currach And Write A Poem About It In 16 Weeks
22nd February 2024 Wavelength Podcast
Currachs and naomhógs are among the only sea craft built upside down, and the expertise dates back generations. Poet Keith Payne learned all this and much more when he found himself working on a Dunfanaghy currach over 16 weeks. He…
