IRELAND has marked National Water Safety Awareness Week with several appeals ahead of the busy summer season. Water Safety Ireland has warned people to give the topic as much attention as they do road safety, particularly over the holidays. Ireland averaged ten drownings every month over five years, with men accounting for 70 per cent of the victims.
More than half of accidental cases were preceded by land-based activities such as walking and angling from shore. People often drown due to unexpected falls or when overestimating their ability and underestimating the risk. Writing in The Irish Sun on Sunday, RNLI Water Safety Lead Linda-Gene Byrne explains what to do if you get into trouble in the water.
AS schools break for the holidays, we are all starting to plans for what we hope will be a good summer. A lot of these thoughts include enjoying the outdoors, whether by lakes, rivers, or the coast. Let’s face it, living on this beautiful island, we are never far from water and we love it.
This year, the RNLI is celebrating its 200th year — that’s two centuries of search and rescue with lifeboat crews saving lives at sea and more recently, on inland waters. It provides a 24-hour service around Ireland and the UK, up to 100 nautical miles offshore and is reliant on a team of highly trained and committed volunteers in communities, to carry out that service. There are all-weather boats for long-range callouts and smaller RIBs for those rescues that happen closer to shore, aro.
