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Displaying items by tag: Rescue

#Rescue - Independent.ie reports on the dramatic rescue of six young sailing trainees after their dinghy overturned in a gust in Dun Laoghaire harbour yesterday afternoon (Sunday 26 April).

One of Dun Laoghaire RNLI's lifeboats spotted the children in trouble while returning to port from an exercise and helped the six out of the water.

Published in Rescue

#Coastguard - Shannon-based Rescue 115's "milestone" year has been highlighted by the operator of Ireland's coastguard helicopter fleet.

In an interview with Aviation Today, CHC general operations manager Chris Hodson said 2014's "significant number of missions" was down to the introduction of state-of-the-art, long-range Sikorsky S92 helicopters across Ireland's four bases.

And in particular, the 310 missions flown by the Shannon chopper for the Irish Coast Guard were "quite an accomplishment for the crew".

Hodson said it was "a real milestone to have one aircraft on one base complete so many missions out into the North Atlantic."

This year, meanwhile, the focus is on providing the helicopters in Shannon, Dublin, Waterford and Sligo with night vision capabilities to enhance rescue efforts under cover of darkness.

Aviation Today has more on the story HERE.

Published in Coastguard

#Rescue - BreakingNews.ie reports that a French tourist was rescued after a fall near the Cliffs of Moher yesterday afternoon (Sunday 29 March).

The woman had been walking with her family south of the famous Clare coastal spot when she slipped off the cliff path, fracturing her ankle.

Coastguard volunteers from Doolin has to reach the casualty on foot as the area where she fell is inaccessible by vehicle.

The casualty was stretchered to the nearby visitor centre and later airlifted to hospital amid concerns about her condition.

The incident comes a fortnight after a surfer was rescued when he got trapped at the base of the 700-foot Cliffs of Moher, among Ireland's most popular tourist attractions.

Published in Rescue

#Coastguard - The Irish Examiner reports on an Irish Coast Guard callout to rescue two men who got into difficulty on Howth Head yesterday evening (Friday 27 March).

One of the men in their 20s had apparently fallen on the cliff path to the water at Balscadden Bay. Both were quickly located and removed to a waiting ambulance by the coastguard and Dublin Fire Brigade.

Published in Coastguard
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#Rescue - A yacht was towed to safety by the Dun Laoghaire RNLI lifeboat this afternoon (Wednesday 25 March) after it hit rocks on the South Bull Wall at the entrance to Dublin Port.

Three people were on board the 31-foot boat when the incident occurred shortly after 3pm.

Two persons clambered ashore while the third remained on board as a pilot boat and other passing vessels stood by to assist. 

The all-weather RNLI lifeboat at Dun Laoghaire was requested at 3.43pm to launch by the Irish Coast Guard’s Marine Rescue Co-Ordination Centre (MRCC) in Dublin and arrived just before 4pm. 

A lifeboat crew member was put on board the yacht to assist and cut the anchor that the yacht’s crew had deployed earlier when their engine failed.

The Dun Laoghaire coastguard unit also attended and brought the yacht’s remaining crew to Poolbeg, where they rejoined their boat.

Published in Rescue

#Cork - The search for a homeless man seen falling into the River Lee in Cork city ended in his arrest, as The Irish Times reports.

Valentia Coast Guard co-ordinated the search and rescue operation for the man, who was witnessed falling into the water after 7am yesterday morning (Saturday 21 March).

However the man was quickly discovered by emergency personnel on a support beneath Parnell Bridge, refusing to come out.

The Irish Times has more on the story HERE.

Published in News Update

#Rescue - A world champion bodyboarder was airlifted to hospital from the base of a Doonbeg cliff earlier this week after suffering an injury in the water off the Clare coast.

The Clare Herald has more on the incident, telling how 36-year-old Australian bodyboard pro Ben Player was injured while bodyboarding near Spanish Point, then fell ill later in the day while watching friends surfing near Doonbeg.

Members of the Irish Tow Surf Rescue Club, who were in the area to keep watch for surfers taking on the challenging Riley's wave, rushed to Player's aid and raised the alarm.

It comes just says after a surfer was rescued from the base of the Cliffs of Moher.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the man was winched to safety by the Sligo coastguard helicopter after getting separated from a group of surfers and winding up on the rocks at the foot of the famous Co Clare cliffs.

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#Rescue - The Irish Independent reports that a surfer has been rescued after getting trapped at the foot of the Cliffs of Moher.

What began a search operation for a missing surfer yesterday evening (Saturday 14 March) soon became a rescue effort when the man was found ashore at the base of the 700ft cliffs in Co Clare.

The Sligo coastguard helicopter was able to winch him abroad and airlift him to hospital just before midnight. More HERE.

Published in Rescue

#Rescue - Gardaí were swift on the scene in Howth Harbour to rescue a man whose car entered the water in the early hours of Wednesday morning (25 February).

As the Irish Examiner reports, the driver had managed to get out of his vehicle before it sank - and was retrieved from the water by local gardaí before he succumbed to the cold.

Howth Coast Guard and the harbour's RNLI lifeboat also attended the scene with the Dublin Fire Brigade.

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#Rescue - Irish Coast Guard helicopter Rescue 115 was dispatched yesterday morning (18 February) for a medevac of an injured fisherman.

As the Irish Independent reports, the casualty was on a Russian fishing vessel some 200 miles off the southwest coast, heading towards Castletownbere.

The operation comes just a week after another Russian crewman was airlifted from a factory ship off Cork after sustaining a hand injury.

The latest incident is believed to relate to a bleeding ulcer, and the casualty was expected to be transferred to the mainland for treatment by yesterday afternoon.

Published in Rescue
Page 12 of 33

Ireland's offshore islands

Around 30 of Ireland's offshore islands are inhabited and hold a wealth of cultural heritage.

A central Government objective is to ensure that sustainable vibrant communities continue to live on the islands.

Irish offshore islands FAQs

Technically, it is Ireland itself, as the third largest island in Europe.

Ireland is surrounded by approximately 80 islands of significant size, of which only about 20 are inhabited.

Achill island is the largest of the Irish isles with a coastline of almost 80 miles and has a population of 2,569.

The smallest inhabited offshore island is Inishfree, off Donegal.

The total voting population in the Republic's inhabited islands is just over 2,600 people, according to the Department of Housing.

Starting with west Cork, and giving voting register numbers as of 2020, here you go - Bere island (177), Cape Clear island (131),Dursey island (6), Hare island (29), Whiddy island (26), Long island, Schull (16), Sherkin island (95). The Galway islands are Inis Mór (675), Inis Meáin (148), Inis Oírr (210), Inishbofin (183). The Donegal islands are Arranmore (513), Gola (30), Inishboffin (63), Inishfree (4), Tory (140). The Mayo islands, apart from Achill which is connected by a bridge, are Clare island (116), Inishbiggle (25) and Inishturk (52).

No, the Gaeltacht islands are the Donegal islands, three of the four Galway islands (Inishbofin, like Clifden, is English-speaking primarily), and Cape Clear or Oileán Chléire in west Cork.

Lack of a pier was one of the main factors in the evacuation of a number of islands, the best known being the Blasket islands off Kerry, which were evacuated in November 1953. There are now three cottages available to rent on the Great Blasket island.

In the early 20th century, scholars visited the Great Blasket to learn Irish and to collect folklore and they encouraged the islanders to record their life stories in their native tongue. The three best known island books are An tOileánach (The Islandman) by Tomás Ó Criomhthain, Peig by Peig Sayers, and Fiche Blian ag Fás (Twenty Years A-Growing) by Muiris Ó Súilleabháin. Former taoiseach Charles J Haughey also kept a residence on his island, Inishvickillaune, which is one of the smaller and less accessible Blasket islands.

Charles J Haughey, as above, or late Beatle musician, John Lennon. Lennon bought Dorinish island in Clew Bay, south Mayo, in 1967 for a reported £1,700 sterling. Vendor was Westport Harbour Board which had used it for marine pilots. Lennon reportedly planned to spend his retirement there, and The Guardian newspaper quoted local estate agent Andrew Crowley as saying he was "besotted with the place by all accounts". He did lodge a planning application for a house, but never built on the 19 acres. He offered it to Sid Rawle, founder of the Digger Action Movement and known as the "King of the Hippies". Rawle and 30 others lived there until 1972 when their tents were burned by an oil lamp. Lennon and Yoko Ono visited it once more before his death in 1980. Ono sold the island for £30,000 in 1984, and it is widely reported that she donated the proceeds of the sale to an Irish orphanage

 

Yes, Rathlin island, off Co Antrim's Causeway Coast, is Ireland's most northerly inhabited island. As a special area of conservation, it is home to tens of thousands of sea birds, including puffins, kittiwakes, razorbills and guillemots. It is known for its Rathlin golden hare. It is almost famous for the fact that Robert the Bruce, King of Scots, retreated after being defeated by the English at Perth and hid in a sea cave where he was so inspired by a spider's tenacity that he returned to defeat his enemy.

No. The Aran islands have a regular ferry and plane service, with ferries from Ros-a-Mhíl, south Connemara all year round and from Doolin, Co Clare in the tourist season. The plane service flies from Indreabhán to all three islands. Inishbofin is connected by ferry from Cleggan, Co Galway, while Clare island and Inishturk are connected from Roonagh pier, outside Louisburgh. The Donegal islands of Arranmore and Tory island also have ferry services, as has Bere island, Cape Clear and Sherkin off Cork. How are the island transport services financed? The Government subsidises transport services to and from the islands. The Irish Coast Guard carries out medical evacuations, as to the RNLI lifeboats. Former Fianna Fáíl minister Éamon Ó Cuív is widely credited with improving transport services to and from offshore islands, earning his department the nickname "Craggy island".

Craggy Island is an bleak, isolated community located of the west coast, inhabited by Irish, a Chinese community and one Maori. Three priests and housekeeper Mrs Doyle live in a parochial house There is a pub, a very small golf course, a McDonald's fast food restaurant and a Chinatown... Actually, that is all fiction. Craggy island is a figment of the imagination of the Father Ted series writers Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews, for the highly successful Channel 4 television series, and the Georgian style parochial house on the "island" is actually Glenquin House in Co Clare.

Yes, that is of the Plassey, a freighter which was washed up on Inis Oírr in bad weather in 1960.

There are some small privately owned islands,and islands like Inishlyre in Co Mayo with only a small number of residents providing their own transport. Several Connemara islands such as Turbot and Inishturk South have a growing summer population, with some residents extending their stay during Covid-19. Turbot island off Eyrephort is one such example – the island, which was first spotted by Alcock and Brown as they approached Ireland during their epic transatlantic flight in 1919, was evacuated in 1978, four years after three of its fishermen drowned on the way home from watching an All Ireland final in Clifden. However, it is slowly being repopulated

Responsibility for the islands was taking over by the Department of Rural and Community Development . It was previously with the Gaeltacht section in the Department of Media, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Sport and the Gaeltacht.

It is a periodic bone of contention, as Ireland does not have the same approach to its islands as Norway, which believes in right of access. However, many improvements were made during Fianna Fáíl Galway West TD Éamon Ó Cuív's time as minister. The Irish Island Federation, Comdháil Oileáin na hÉireann, represents island issues at national and international level.

The 12 offshore islands with registered voters have long argued that having to cast their vote early puts them at a disadvantage – especially as improved transport links mean that ballot boxes can be transported to the mainland in most weather conditions, bar the winter months. Legislation allowing them to vote on the same day as the rest of the State wasn't passed in time for the February 2020 general election.

Yes, but check tide tables ! Omey island off north Connemara is accessible at low tide and also runs a summer race meeting on the strand. In Sligo, 14 pillars mark the way to Coney island – one of several islands bearing this name off the Irish coast.

Cape Clear or Oileán Chléire is the country's most southerly inhabited island, eight miles off the west Cork coast, and within sight of the Fastnet Rock lighthouse, also known as the "teardrop of Ireland".
Skellig Michael off the Kerry coast, which has a monastic site dating from the 6th century. It is accessible by boat – prebooking essential – from Portmagee, Co Kerry. However, due to Covid-19 restrictions, it was not open to visitors in 2020.
All islands have bird life, but puffins and gannets and kittiwakes are synonymous with Skellig Michael and Little Skellig. Rathlin island off Antrim and Cape Clear off west Cork have bird observatories. The Saltee islands off the Wexford coast are privately owned by the O'Neill family, but day visitors are permitted access to the Great Saltee during certain hours. The Saltees have gannets, gulls, puffins and Manx shearwaters.
Vikings used Dublin as a European slaving capital, and one of their bases was on Dalkey island, which can be viewed from Killiney's Vico road. Boat trips available from Coliemore harbour in Dalkey. Birdwatch Ireland has set up nestboxes here for roseate terns. Keep an eye out also for feral goats.
Plenty! There are regular boat trips in summer to Inchagoill island on Lough Corrib, while the best known Irish inshore island might be the lake isle of Innisfree on Sligo's Lough Gill, immortalised by WB Yeats in his poem of the same name. Roscommon's Lough Key has several islands, the most prominent being the privately-owned Castle Island. Trinity island is more accessible to the public - it was once occupied by Cistercian monks from Boyle Abbey.

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