#rnli – Dun Laoghaire RNLI brought the highest number of people to safety with 76 individuals rescued by their volunteer lifeboat crews during 46 callouts in 2012.
RNLI Lifeboat Operations Manager for Dun Laoghaire Stephen Wynne commented: "The two RNLI lifeboats at Dun Laoghaire recorded a sharp increase in the number of people rescued in 2012, up to 76 for the year which we attribute to the nature of a number of incidents that occurred. Like our colleagues around the coast, station volunteers train weekly in preparation for a variety of situations."
The 2012 period in Dun Laoghaire included several call-outs that saw vessels with more than one or two crew brought to safety.
On two occasions, two boats were involved such as the 13 people rescued on yachts returning from an Irish Sea race in Near Gale conditions and in another service, eight people on two power-boats in difficulties in separate incidents off Bray Head.
The current year is already unusually busy with four call-outs and ten people rescued. A Trent class (ALB) All-Weather lifeboat 'RNLB Anna Livia' and a D-Class (ILB) Inshore lifeboat 'Realt Na Mara' are stationed at Dun Laoghaire where there are 35 volunteers involved in lifeboat operations as well as fund-raising volunteers and a gift-shop.