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Displaying items by tag: Dun Laoghaire Bicentenary

#PeopleOnPier - Due to popular demand DLR Libraries “People on the Pier” exhibition has been extended giving the public the opportunity to view the free photographic indoor event.

Afloat had reported of the exhibition launched earlier this month which involved an open-air display of peoples photos beamed onto the outside of the Lexicon Library. These publically contributed images formed the current indoor exhibition on display in the iconic building.

In total the collection of 400 candid photos were taken over the years of families and friends enjoying the pier, which were submitted as part of the 2017 commemorations for the bicentenary of Dun Laoghaire Harbour. 

The display in the Lexicon Library's Lab will also serve the purpose of keeping the dlr Libraries’ Local Studies Collection current. The exhibition continues this week but is only to remain running until 5pm this Saturday 16 December.

Today, this Thursday up to 8 pm

Fri / Sat – 9.30 am – 5 pm

For further details of the People on the Pier project and more click the link here.

#LectureOnHarbour - A lecture by esteemed Heritage architect Grainne Shaffrey, is to be held on Thursday, 30th November as part of the Dun Laoghaire Harbour Bicentenary celebrations.

Grainne and her practice have an extensive knowledge of Dun Laoghaire harbour having worked on the East Pier resurfacing and the restoration of the Victoria Monument.

The talks will describe the remarkable physical qualities of the Harbour in the context of its historic development. In addition to exploring some of the very particular ways in which the Harbour continues to be a special place of cultural heritage.

Event Location: Dun Laoghaire, Ferry Terminal Building

Event Time / Date: 19:00 Thursday 30th November 2017  

Event Registration: to book a free place via Eventbrite click the link here. 

The commemorative event is a partnership between the Dun Laoghaire Harbour Company and the Dun Laoghaire Bicentenary committee, for more details visit: www.dlharbour200.ie 

A little bit about Grainne Shaffrey

Gráinne Shaffrey is a principal architect at Shaffrey Architects based on Ormond Quay Lower. Ms Shaffrey is a Royal Institute of Architects Ireland (RIAI) Grade 1 Conservation Architect and currently President of International Council on Monuments and Sites Ireland.

Shaffrey Associates was established in 1967 by Patrick and Maura Shaffrey. The practice has undertaken architectural, urban design and planning projects throughout Ireland and possess a wide knowledge of Irish towns and cities. Architectural work includes the conservation, adaptation and extension of historic buildings and new buildings in existing urban settings.

#SailFlagship –The presence today of the five-masted flagship Wind Surf in Dun Laoghaire never fails to impress despite been the most regular cruiseship caller to the harbour of recent years, writes Jehan Ashmore.

All five masts of Wind Surf are notably of the same height as they stand at a commanding 221 feet (67.5 meters) high. From these masts she sets seven triangular self-furling computer-operated sails. Together the total surface are is 26,881 square feet (or 2,600 square meters).

Even when without sails aloft, Windstar Cruises magnificent motor-sailing yacht makes an impression while occupying Dun Laoghaire’s Carlisle Pier. It is alongside this pier where the 310 guest cruiseship has accommodation based exclusively of staterooms and luxurious suites. Those on board have plenty of open deck space presenting views as likewise the vantage point taken opposite from the harbour’s East Pier.

This season sees six cruiseships in total calling to Dun Laoghaire Harbour which this year celebrates its Bicentenary year. This significant historical event marks the beginning of the harbour’s construction in 1817. This involved using granite hewn from nearby Dalkey.

Originally the purpose of the harbour was as a place of ‘Refuge’. This enabled sailing ships that encountered tempestuous seas in the exposed expanse of Dublin Bay to take shelter within the harbour piers.

Roll on two hundred years and it is refreshing to have Wind Surf, albeit a wind-assisted vessel make for a graceful visitor within the harbour arms. The majestic flagship is easily the largest caller at more than 14,000 gross tonnage, however unlike previous years there are no deeper draft cruiseships. Such considerarably cruiseships have to date taken anchorage calls offshore.

The call of the luxurious 162m Wind Surf so far represents the third call this season and follows the previous visit of fleetmate, Star Pride, a conventional yet yacht-like cruiseship. Beforehand of that call the season was opened by the elegant veteran Serenissima.

In addition to recapping some details about Wind Surf, below are further facts and figures of this more unusual caller to Irish waters.

CAPACITY: 310 Guests
STATEROOMS: 122 deluxe ocean view staterooms / 31 deluxe Suites ocean view suites
BRIDGE DECK SUITES: 2 deluxe ocean view bridge suites
DECKS: 6 decks
CREW: 201 international staff
SHIP'S REGISTRY: Bahamas
LENGTH: 535 feet (162 meters) at waterline; 617 feet (187meters) including bowsprit
DRAFT: 16.5 feet (5 meters)
TONNAGE: 14,745 gross registered tons (grt)
BEAM: 66 feet (20 meters)
ENGINES: 4 diesel electric generating sets, 2 electrical propulsion motor
SPEED: 10 to 12 knots with engines only; up to 15 knots wind and engine assisted

#Bicentenary - Minister for Jobs & Innovation Mary Mitchell O'Connor today became Patron of the Dun Laoghaire Harbour Bicentenary programme.

Convening in the historic Harbour Lodge in Dun Laoghaire, the Minister met members of the Steering Group, which includes the Pavilion Theatre, DLR County Council, the RNLI, the Coal Harbour Users Group, The National Maritime Museum, Dalkey Heritage Centre, a representative of the 4 Yacht Clubs, the Dun Laoghaire Harbour Company and Dun Laoghaire Business Improvement District (BID).

The Bicentenary Steering Group met to discuss a series of initiatives to commemorate and celebrate the 200 year history of this historic harbour.

May 31st 1817 saw the laying of the first stone in the creation of one of the world’s finest man-made harbours, originally named as "The Royal Harbour of King George IV at Kingstown"

Gerry Dunne, CEO of Dun Laoghaire Harbour Company said " this is an incredibly exciting initiative , of national and international significance. We will be engaging with members of the Irish Diaspora all over the world, so that we can gather relevant stories and memorabilia, and create a legacy both online and physical, a legacy which this special place fully deserves"

The Irish Coast Guard

The Irish Coast Guard is Ireland's fourth 'Blue Light' service (along with An Garda Síochána, the Ambulance Service and the Fire Service). It provides a nationwide maritime emergency organisation as well as a variety of services to shipping and other government agencies.

The purpose of the Irish Coast Guard is to promote safety and security standards, and by doing so, prevent as far as possible, the loss of life at sea, and on inland waters, mountains and caves, and to provide effective emergency response services and to safeguard the quality of the marine environment.

The Irish Coast Guard has responsibility for Ireland's system of marine communications, surveillance and emergency management in Ireland's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and certain inland waterways.

It is responsible for the response to, and co-ordination of, maritime accidents which require search and rescue and counter-pollution and ship casualty operations. It also has responsibility for vessel traffic monitoring.

Operations in respect of maritime security, illegal drug trafficking, illegal migration and fisheries enforcement are co-ordinated by other bodies within the Irish Government.

On average, each year, the Irish Coast Guard is expected to:

  • handle 3,000 marine emergencies
  • assist 4,500 people and save about 200 lives
  • task Coast Guard helicopters on missions

The Coast Guard has been around in some form in Ireland since 1908.

Coast Guard helicopters

The Irish Coast Guard has contracted five medium-lift Sikorsky Search and Rescue helicopters deployed at bases in Dublin, Waterford, Shannon and Sligo.

The helicopters are designated wheels up from initial notification in 15 minutes during daylight hours and 45 minutes at night. One aircraft is fitted and its crew trained for under slung cargo operations up to 3000kgs and is available on short notice based at Waterford.

These aircraft respond to emergencies at sea, inland waterways, offshore islands and mountains of Ireland (32 counties).

They can also be used for assistance in flooding, major inland emergencies, intra-hospital transfers, pollution, and aerial surveillance during daylight hours, lifting and passenger operations and other operations as authorised by the Coast Guard within appropriate regulations.

Irish Coastguard FAQs

The Irish Coast Guard provides nationwide maritime emergency response, while also promoting safety and security standards. It aims to prevent the loss of life at sea, on inland waters, on mountains and in caves; and to safeguard the quality of the marine environment.

The main role of the Irish Coast Guard is to rescue people from danger at sea or on land, to organise immediate medical transport and to assist boats and ships within the country's jurisdiction. It has three marine rescue centres in Dublin, Malin Head, Co Donegal, and Valentia Island, Co Kerry. The Dublin National Maritime Operations centre provides marine search and rescue responses and coordinates the response to marine casualty incidents with the Irish exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

Yes, effectively, it is the fourth "blue light" service. The Marine Rescue Sub-Centre (MRSC) Valentia is the contact point for the coastal area between Ballycotton, Co Cork and Clifden, Co Galway. At the same time, the MRSC Malin Head covers the area between Clifden and Lough Foyle. Marine Rescue Co-ordination Centre (MRCC) Dublin covers Carlingford Lough, Co Louth to Ballycotton, Co Cork. Each MRCC/MRSC also broadcasts maritime safety information on VHF and MF radio, including navigational and gale warnings, shipping forecasts, local inshore forecasts, strong wind warnings and small craft warnings.

The Irish Coast Guard handles about 3,000 marine emergencies annually, and assists 4,500 people - saving an estimated 200 lives, according to the Department of Transport. In 2016, Irish Coast Guard helicopters completed 1,000 missions in a single year for the first time.

Yes, Irish Coast Guard helicopters evacuate medical patients from offshore islands to hospital on average about 100 times a year. In September 2017, the Department of Health announced that search and rescue pilots who work 24-hour duties would not be expected to perform any inter-hospital patient transfers. The Air Corps flies the Emergency Aeromedical Service, established in 2012 and using an AW139 twin-engine helicopter. Known by its call sign "Air Corps 112", it airlifted its 3,000th patient in autumn 2020.

The Irish Coast Guard works closely with the British Maritime and Coastguard Agency, which is responsible for the Northern Irish coast.

The Irish Coast Guard is a State-funded service, with both paid management personnel and volunteers, and is under the auspices of the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport. It is allocated approximately 74 million euro annually in funding, some 85 per cent of which pays for a helicopter contract that costs 60 million euro annually. The overall funding figure is "variable", an Oireachtas committee was told in 2019. Other significant expenditure items include volunteer training exercises, equipment, maintenance, renewal, and information technology.

The Irish Coast Guard has four search and rescue helicopter bases at Dublin, Waterford, Shannon and Sligo, run on a contract worth 50 million euro annually with an additional 10 million euro in costs by CHC Ireland. It provides five medium-lift Sikorsky S-92 helicopters and trained crew. The 44 Irish Coast Guard coastal units with 1,000 volunteers are classed as onshore search units, with 23 of the 44 units having rigid inflatable boats (RIBs) and 17 units having cliff rescue capability. The Irish Coast Guard has 60 buildings in total around the coast, and units have search vehicles fitted with blue lights, all-terrain vehicles or quads, first aid equipment, generators and area lighting, search equipment, marine radios, pyrotechnics and appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE). The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) and Community Rescue Boats Ireland also provide lifeboats and crews to assist in search and rescue. The Irish Coast Guard works closely with the Garda Siochána, National Ambulance Service, Naval Service and Air Corps, Civil Defence, while fishing vessels, ships and other craft at sea offer assistance in search operations.

The helicopters are designated as airborne from initial notification in 15 minutes during daylight hours, and 45 minutes at night. The aircraft respond to emergencies at sea, on inland waterways, offshore islands and mountains and cover the 32 counties. They can also assist in flooding, major inland emergencies, intra-hospital transfers, pollution, and can transport offshore firefighters and ambulance teams. The Irish Coast Guard volunteers units are expected to achieve a 90 per cent response time of departing from the station house in ten minutes from notification during daylight and 20 minutes at night. They are also expected to achieve a 90 per cent response time to the scene of the incident in less than 60 minutes from notification by day and 75 minutes at night, subject to geographical limitations.

Units are managed by an officer-in-charge (three stripes on the uniform) and a deputy officer in charge (two stripes). Each team is trained in search skills, first aid, setting up helicopter landing sites and a range of maritime skills, while certain units are also trained in cliff rescue.

Volunteers receive an allowance for time spent on exercises and call-outs. What is the difference between the Irish Coast Guard and the RNLI? The RNLI is a registered charity which has been saving lives at sea since 1824, and runs a 24/7 volunteer lifeboat service around the British and Irish coasts. It is a declared asset of the British Maritime and Coast Guard Agency and the Irish Coast Guard. Community Rescue Boats Ireland is a community rescue network of volunteers under the auspices of Water Safety Ireland.

No, it does not charge for rescue and nor do the RNLI or Community Rescue Boats Ireland.

The marine rescue centres maintain 19 VHF voice and DSC radio sites around the Irish coastline and a digital paging system. There are two VHF repeater test sites, four MF radio sites and two NAVTEX transmitter sites. Does Ireland have a national search and rescue plan? The first national search and rescue plan was published in July, 2019. It establishes the national framework for the overall development, deployment and improvement of search and rescue services within the Irish Search and Rescue Region and to meet domestic and international commitments. The purpose of the national search and rescue plan is to promote a planned and nationally coordinated search and rescue response to persons in distress at sea, in the air or on land.

Yes, the Irish Coast Guard is responsible for responding to spills of oil and other hazardous substances with the Irish pollution responsibility zone, along with providing an effective response to marine casualties and monitoring or intervening in marine salvage operations. It provides and maintains a 24-hour marine pollution notification at the three marine rescue centres. It coordinates exercises and tests of national and local pollution response plans.

The first Irish Coast Guard volunteer to die on duty was Caitriona Lucas, a highly trained member of the Doolin Coast Guard unit, while assisting in a search for a missing man by the Kilkee unit in September 2016. Six months later, four Irish Coast Guard helicopter crew – Dara Fitzpatrick, Mark Duffy, Paul Ormsby and Ciarán Smith -died when their Sikorsky S-92 struck Blackrock island off the Mayo coast on March 14, 2017. The Dublin-based Rescue 116 crew were providing "top cover" or communications for a medical emergency off the west coast and had been approaching Blacksod to refuel. Up until the five fatalities, the Irish Coast Guard recorded that more than a million "man hours" had been spent on more than 30,000 rescue missions since 1991.

Several investigations were initiated into each incident. The Marine Casualty Investigation Board was critical of the Irish Coast Guard in its final report into the death of Caitriona Lucas, while a separate Health and Safety Authority investigation has been completed, but not published. The Air Accident Investigation Unit final report into the Rescue 116 helicopter crash has not yet been published.

The Irish Coast Guard in its present form dates back to 1991, when the Irish Marine Emergency Service was formed after a campaign initiated by Dr Joan McGinley to improve air/sea rescue services on the west Irish coast. Before Irish independence, the British Admiralty was responsible for a Coast Guard (formerly the Water Guard or Preventative Boat Service) dating back to 1809. The West Coast Search and Rescue Action Committee was initiated with a public meeting in Killybegs, Co Donegal, in 1988 and the group was so effective that a Government report was commissioned, which recommended setting up a new division of the Department of the Marine to run the Marine Rescue Co-Ordination Centre (MRCC), then based at Shannon, along with the existing coast radio service, and coast and cliff rescue. A medium-range helicopter base was established at Shannon within two years. Initially, the base was served by the Air Corps.

The first director of what was then IMES was Capt Liam Kirwan, who had spent 20 years at sea and latterly worked with the Marine Survey Office. Capt Kirwan transformed a poorly funded voluntary coast and cliff rescue service into a trained network of cliff and sea rescue units – largely voluntary, but with paid management. The MRCC was relocated from Shannon to an IMES headquarters at the then Department of the Marine (now Department of Transport) in Leeson Lane, Dublin. The coast radio stations at Valentia, Co Kerry, and Malin Head, Co Donegal, became marine rescue-sub-centres.

The current director is Chris Reynolds, who has been in place since August 2007 and was formerly with the Naval Service. He has been seconded to the head of mission with the EUCAP Somalia - which has a mandate to enhance Somalia's maritime civilian law enforcement capacity – since January 2019.

  • Achill, Co. Mayo
  • Ardmore, Co. Waterford
  • Arklow, Co. Wicklow
  • Ballybunion, Co. Kerry
  • Ballycotton, Co. Cork
  • Ballyglass, Co. Mayo
  • Bonmahon, Co. Waterford
  • Bunbeg, Co. Donegal
  • Carnsore, Co. Wexford
  • Castlefreake, Co. Cork
  • Castletownbere, Co. Cork
  • Cleggan, Co. Galway
  • Clogherhead, Co. Louth
  • Costelloe Bay, Co. Galway
  • Courtown, Co. Wexford
  • Crosshaven, Co. Cork
  • Curracloe, Co. Wexford
  • Dingle, Co. Kerry
  • Doolin, Co. Clare
  • Drogheda, Co. Louth
  • Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin
  • Dunmore East, Co. Waterford
  • Fethard, Co. Wexford
  • Glandore, Co. Cork
  • Glenderry, Co. Kerry
  • Goleen, Co. Cork
  • Greencastle, Co. Donegal
  • Greenore, Co. Louth
  • Greystones, Co. Wicklow
  • Guileen, Co. Cork
  • Howth, Co. Dublin
  • Kilkee, Co. Clare
  • Killala, Co. Mayo
  • Killybegs, Co. Donegal
  • Kilmore Quay, Co. Wexford
  • Knightstown, Co. Kerry
  • Mulroy, Co. Donegal
  • North Aran, Co. Galway
  • Old Head Of Kinsale, Co. Cork
  • Oysterhaven, Co. Cork
  • Rosslare, Co. Wexford
  • Seven Heads, Co. Cork
  • Skerries, Co. Dublin Summercove, Co. Cork
  • Toe Head, Co. Cork
  • Tory Island, Co. Donegal
  • Tramore, Co. Waterford
  • Waterville, Co. Kerry
  • Westport, Co. Mayo
  • Wicklow
  • Youghal, Co. Cork

Sources: Department of Transport © Afloat 2020