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Displaying items by tag: missing

#Missing - RTÉ News reports on the ongoing search for a man in his 50s reported missing in Wicklow Harbour this morning (Tuesday 27 December).

Wicklow RNLI, the Irish Coast Guard and gardaí are all involved in the operation that began around 10.30am.

The news comes two just days after a man was rescued from the River Liffey in Dublin city centre on Christmas morning, as previously reported on Afloat.ie.

Published in News Update

#RNLI - Volunteers from Red Bay RNLI in Co Antrim joined in the ongoing search for a missing woman yesterday (Sunday 18 December).

The all-weather lifeboat, under coxswain Paddy McLaughlin and with six crew members onboard, launched at 11.30am and continued searching until 6pm yeserday evening.

The lifeboat started its search in the area of Ballintoy before moving south to Torr Head. Coastguard units meanwhile searched the shoreline.

Weather conditions were favourable with a cold but moderate sea and good visibility.

“We searched in good conditions for most of today but unfortunately we didn’t find anything,” said McLaughlin.

“Our thoughts remain with the lady’s family during an ongoing search.”

Elsewhere, the volunteer lifeboat crew at Larne RNLI responded to a launch request from the UK Coastguard yesterday morning.

The initial alarm was raised by a concerned member of the public who reported seeing a person signalling to shore from a fishing vessel around 1.5 nautical miles off Glenarm.

Larne RNLI’s all-weather lifeboat launched at 10.45am and quickly made its way to Glenarm. The lifeboat crew made radio contact with a fishing vessel in the area who confirmed they did not require any assistance.

The surrounding area was searched to ensure there were no other vessels nearby. The lifeboat was returned to Larne after it was established as a false alarm with good intent.

Speaking following the callout, Larne RNLI coxswain Frank Healy said: “We thank this vigilant member of the public who called the coastguard out of genuine concern.

“We would urge anyone who is concerned that someone is in distress along our coast to always ring 999 and ask for the coastguard. We would always rather launch to a false alarm with good intent than not launch at all.”

Larne RNLI will host its annual icebreaker swim at 12 noon on New Year’s Eve at Ballygally Beach.

The lifeboat station is asking people to 'Get freezin' for a reason' this New Year’s Eve, with all money raised going to the RNLI to help save lives at sea.

Anyone interested in taking part can obtain a sponsor form by contacting 07516 496945 or the station’s Facebook page, or collect on the day.

Hot refreshments will be available at the Ballygally community centre following the swim.

Published in RNLI Lifeboats

#GrandCanal - BreakingNews.ie reports on the recovery of a body from the Grand Canal in Dublin yesterday (Sunday 18 December) in the search for a missing man.

The body was recovered by the Garda Water Unit at lunchtime yesterday near Harcourt Terrace in the city centre during the search for 25-year-old Mehdi Hasan, who was last seen in on Leeson Street around 4am on Friday morning (16 December).

Published in News Update
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#Ferry - The body of a woman was recovered from the water in South Wales yesterday (Friday 2 December) after a major search operation for a person missing from a Pembroke-to-Rosslare ferry, as the Western Telegraph reports.

Irish Ferries’ Isle of Inishmore contacted the UK Coastguard from Rosslare shortly after 8am when the passenger was noted as missing and feared to have gone overboard, according to Sky News, prompting a major air and sea search of the Irish Sea and the Pembroke Channel at Milford Haven.

Dyfed Powys Police later confirmed the discovery of a body in the Lawrenny area east of Pembroke Dock in the upper reaches of the Western Cleddau, though it has not formally been identified.

Published in News Update

#Missing - The search was set to resume this morning for a fisherman missing after going overboard from a three-man fishing vessel off the Wicklow-Wexford border yesterday morning (Wednesday 16 November).

As The Irish Times reports, RNLI lifeboats from Rosslare and Wicklow were tasked along with the Waterford-based Irish Coast Guard helicopter Rescue 117 and later Rescue 116 from Dublin Airport to the incident some 6km east of Kilmichael Point in Co Wexford.

It's understood that the missing man is in his late 40s or eary 50s, according to BreakingNews.ie.

Published in News Update

#Kilkee - BreakingNews.ie reports that a body was recovered yesterday (Saturday 24 September) off Kilkee in the search for missing teacher David McMahon.

Hundreds had been involved in the search for the school teacher, who was last seen on 9 September, according to Independent.ie.

The discovery yesterday afternoon came 12 days after the death of Irish Coast Guard volunteer Caitriona Lucas in the same area.

That tragedy occurred when the RIB she and two other coastguard volunteers were on board was flipped over in a heavy swell, three days into the search operation for McMahon off the Co Clare coast.

Published in News Update

#Coastguard - RTÉ News is reporting that a member of the Irish Coast Guard has died after a rescue boat overturned during a search for a man missing of Kilkee this afternoon (Monday 12 September).

Two other coastguard crew were recovered from the water and taken to hospital after the RIB all three were onboard flipped over in a heavy swell.

More on this story as it develops.

Published in Coastguard

#IsleOfDoagh - A body has been found this afternoon (Thursday 1 September) in the search for a man missing from the Isle of Doagh since Monday evening.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the man was reported missing by his family after going swimming during a camping holiday on the Inishowen Peninsula.

But according to The Irish Times, a body was recovered at Five Fingers Strand across from Doagh in the search for 59-year-old Tony Griffiths.

Published in News Update

#Missing - The search continues today (Wednesday 31 August) for a man missing after going swimming off the Inishowen Peninsula in Co Donegal this past Monday.

According to The Irish Times, the man in his 50s was reported missing at midnight on Monday by his family, with whom he was on a camping holiday on the Isle of Doagh just south of Malin Head.

The search comes just days since the body of soldier Gavin Carey was recovered off the south Donegal coast near Bundoran after he got into difficulty while swimming a week ago.

Published in News Update
Tagged under

#Donegal - A body recovered off the Donegal coast yesterday morning (Sunday 28 August) has been identified as missing soldier Gavin Carey, according to BreakingNews.ie.

Corporal Gavin Carey was reported missing after getting into difficulty while swimming with fellow soldiers at Tullan Strand last Tuesday 23 August, as previously reported on Afloat.ie.

Defence Forces chief of staff Vice Admiral Mark Mellett expressed his sorrow over the tragedy, with Taoiseach Enda Kenny also offering his condolences to Corporal Carey's family in Mullingar and colleagues at Custume Barracks in Athlone.

BreakingNews.ie has much more on the story HERE.

Published in News Update
Tagged under
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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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