A former Doolin Coast Guard member has spoken publicly about why he says he was forced to quit the service after 31 years.
Experienced rock and sea cave climber Conor McGrath says that after his resignation in October of last year, five others also resigned.
He says it was through “sheer frustration” over Irish Coast Guard management inaction in relation to five key issues.
In an interview with The Clare Champion, McGrath says that while local management was supportive, national Irish Coast Guard management was “disruptive”.
“One of our team members Caitríona Lucas was killed in Kilkee, and there was the helicopter crash,” McGrath recalled, referring to Ms Lucas’s death in September 2016 and the Rescue 116 helicopter crash with the loss of four air crew off north Mayo in March 2017.
He says that as a result there was “a lot of oversight, and criticism of management”.
“I think they had a knee jerk reaction and decided if you do nothing there will not be a problem. I said this is not acceptable to me while I was volunteering my skills and my time,” McGrath told The Clare Champion.
“I quit and that started a snowball effect. I felt things were not working and management was disruptive. We spent the last six years complaining, I said I have enough, I am gone,”he said.
“The ability to train and respond was greatly reduced to such an extent I felt it wasn’t feasible to work in the unit. It is a huge loss to the community and people that the service we had is gone,” he said.
While volunteers are required to respond quickly to a call out, he said that one of the doors in the €1.9 million Doolin Coast Guard Station in north Clare “didn’t open for about three years”.
“The door on the right hand side of the building was cannibalised to get the other two working. It was like a game of chess to move boats and vehicles to get out of one door. If it was in a fire station, would they put up with it?,” he told the newspaper.
“We used to train in the station using steel beams for winter training, which was a great opportunity for people who don’t cave or climb to get themselves in and out of trouble in a controlled environment,” he explained.
“The Coast Guard Sector Manager for the West Coast, Olan O’Keeffe put fantastic systems in place, but once this was done head office said you are not to use this again. We were told there is no more training in the station. I was never told why,” he said.
“Volunteers were never consulted about what they would actually need in the new station, which was built and is run by the Office of Public Works. The Coast Guard lease it,” he explained.
He said that while the new station was “a massive improvement on the old Doolin shed”, some volunteers believe it was built in the wrong location.
“A boat and trailer is about 40 feet long. We have to get through buses and traffic to get the boat on to the slipway. It could have been sited at the head of the slipway where the boat would be ready to go,”he said.
“The entrance into it isn’t wide enough to get the boat out easily. You can’t turn in one direction. It is farcical,” he said, adding that “it is nearly impossible to get the boat from the road into the yard. The practicalities were never really looked at or discussed.”
He said the main building is open to the sea air, probably for ventilation purposes.
“It is like parking your vehicle out in the open. From a maintenance point of view, that is not a good idea,”he said.
“The eaves are mesh and the sea air circulates through the building. The inside steel structure was rusting before we even moved in. It had to addressed,”he told the newspaper.
Mr McGrath recalled the Coast Guard bought a fleet of 4WD transit vans, but found out they couldn’t take the required weight for people and climbing equipment.
“To cover it up, they have never used the vans. The vans have a humidity storage area in the back. You can put in all your wet equipment and it will dry it out,”he said.
“Because of this problem the vans are sitting empty and equipment is being stored in an open trailer in what is practically an open building,”he said.
“There are harnesses costing €300 or €400 with mildew that have never been used because they are sitting in an open trailer in an open building while the van is empty,”he said.
Read more in The Clare Champion here
Asked to comment on claims in The Clare Champion interview, a spokesman for the Department of Transport said: “Coast Guard management have worked with Doolin Coast Guard Unit members over the past number of years following the unfortunate breakdown in interpersonal relationships that had occurred”.
“At the end of 2021, the Mulvey report on Doolin was completed, which made a number of recommendations which have been implemented. These include providing the existing Volunteer Coastal Unit Advisory Group (CUAG) with an enhanced representative role for all volunteers,” the department spokesman said.
“A dedicated HR support service to volunteers has also been provided, which is independent of Coast Guard management. Secretariat support to CUAG is also available and training in HR for volunteers and new members of CUAG is also underway,” the spokesman said.
“The Doolin unit has been reconstituted and continues to make good progress. The Mulvey report recommended that the reconstituted Doolin unit be allowed sufficient time to develop a culture of mutual respect and trust, and this process is ongoing,” the spokesman said.
“Coast Guard management is very committed to ongoing consultation and communication with all Coast Guard volunteers and CUAG. Minister Hildegarde Naughton has visited a number of Coast Guard units since the relaxation of Covid restrictions and visited the Doolin Coast Guard unit recently,” the department spokesman said.