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Displaying items by tag: Mooring

Boating facilities at the Dromquinna Manor resort in Kerry include pontoon berths offering the boating enthusiast a wonderful base to enjoy the south-west coast. The current facility comprises a long jetty in the Kenmare river.

Published in Irish Marinas

#ERNE – Boats owners using public moorings on the river Erne in excess of two days are liable to prosecution according to a Waterways Ireland notice issued today.  The authority advises masters and owners of vessels and boats on the Erne Navigation that procedures to initiate prosecutions for contravention of Bye-law 19 of Lough Erne (Navigation) are now in place. The bye-law states "No master or owner shall permit a vessel or boat to remain moored at or in the vicinity of any public mooring for a continuous period in excess of 48 hours save that a new period of 48 hours shall be deemed to commence following an absence from the mooring for a period of four hours or more".

Published in Inland Waterways
Following the levying of substantial fines on foreign yachtsmen, much pressure has recently been brought to bear on the Norwegian Ministry of Finance and the Norwegian Customs to amend draconian regulations relating to owners of foreign flagged vessels who wish to over-winter in Norway.
On 5th October 2011 the Norwegian Directorate of Customs and Excise amended the rules so that foreign boat owners can lay up their boats in private marinas for up to one year. (An extension for a further year will probably also be possible). Boat owners must apply to Norwegian Customs and Excise (Tollvesenet) for permission beforehand,. A special application form for boat storage has been drawn up. Currently this form is available only in Norwegian but an English version will be produced shortly.
Information about the new regulations and submitting applications can be obtained from the appropriate Customs Region. Norwegian Customs website is www.toll.no (also in English).
Norwegian yachtsmen have been at the forefront of the protest but overseas yachting organisations have also made representations to the Norwegian authorities. Foremost among these has been the UK's Cruising Association (CA). The CA's Honorary Local Representative in Oslo, Hans Jakob Valderhaug has worked tirelessly on behalf of members in close co-operation with the Association's Baltic Section Secretaries, Graham and Fay Cattell who comment: "This change in the law is a triumph for common sense and we are delighted that our members will be able to enjoy longer visits to Norway's beautiful coast without worry or penalty".
Skippers will no longer be forced to set out from Norway in inclement weather at the end of the season but can now legally leave their boats for the winter. Neither will they have to stump up a (refundable) deposit equal to the 25% VAT on the value of their boat plus a percentage tax for engine and refrigeration equipment.

Published in Cruising
Tagged under
The Londonderry Port and Harbour Commissioners have signed a contract with McLaughlin and Harvey for development of mooring facilities on the River Foyle, as part of an EU funded project. Works will be sited just downstream of the city centre and include construction of a cruise ship quay plus a pontoon designed to serve as a marine event platform.

Port Harbour master, Bill McCann says this is "positive step forward towards harnessing the potential of the River Foyle for tourism and commerce. The new cruise ship quay at Meadowbank, together with the new pontoon, add significantly to the marine facilities that we offer on the Foyle, which is particularly important with the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race calling at Derry in 2012."

foyle mooring clipper

Londonderry Port and Harbour Commissioners sign contract for development of Foyle cruise ship quay and pontoon

Chief executive of the Loughs Agency, Derick Anderson has expressed his enthusiasm for a project "that promises to aid the development of tourism along the Foyle and in the north-west generally, including Inishowen. The new water front infrastructure may reveal fresh opportunities for those planning events in the region, for instance, City of Culture in 2013. The Loughs Agency is optimistic that the project will optimise potential for water based events and activity and help bring the river to life in Londonderry's city centre."

Shaun Henry from the Special EU Programmes Body highlighted the strategic importance of this initiative for the region saying: "This project will allow the local tourism sector to draw on the natural environment of the region and its natural tourism resources. This is likely to attract a higher number of domestic and overseas visitors, contributing to improving the performance of the overall tourism industry, one of the key priorities of the INTERREG IVA Programme. By increasing the offer for high quality marine facilities in the area, it also builds on the strong cultural and economic linkages that exist between western Scotland, Northern Ireland and the west coast of Ireland, where marine tourism is a sector in expansion."

The project is supported by funds from the European Regional Development Fund. The Loughs Agency is lead partner in an Interreg IV programme that secured this funding for some much needed infrastructure. Details about marine leisure on the Foyle on www.loughs-agency.org or www.londonderryport.com

Published in Irish Marinas
Masters and owners on inland waterways have been advised that the winter mooring period ends on Thurs 31 Mar 2011 thereafter Navigation Bye-law No. 17(3) applies i.e. Vessels should not be berthed in the same harbour for longer than the statutory period of five consecutive days or more than a total of 7 days in any one month.
Published in Inland Waterways

Owners and masters availing of winter mooring facilities for their vessels on any of Waterway Ireland's navigations are advised to choose a sheltered berth within the harbour, place adequate fendering between the vessel and the harbour wall and secure the vessel with double mooring lines.

The vessel should be monitored on a regular basis in the event that it should be taking or making water and particularly so after a period of stormy or frosty weather.

Owners visiting harbours during this period and who intend to work on their vessels should bear in mind the changed environmental conditions at this time of year and to take the appropriate measures necessary to reduce risks associated with working on or near water.

It is advised that personal protective clothing, to guard against the cold and the wet, including a personal flotation device, should be worn and all items checked for serviceability beforehand, bearing in mind:

• Low air temperatures
• Low water temperatures
• Reduced daylight
• Inclement weather
• Raised water levels
• Flood conditions including increased rates of flow

Working on or near water should preferably be undertaken in the company of a colleague. Lone working should be avoided if possible and especially at remote locations. Ensure that someone has been informed of your whereabouts and expected time of return.

Further, carry a mobile phone and/or a handheld Marine VHF, fully charged, for keeping in contact while being aware that full phone coverage is not available everywhere.

Published in Inland Waterways
Page 2 of 2

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