MINISTER OF State for Transport Michael Ring has welcomed the “happy conclusion” of a longrunning dispute over use of a new State-funded rescue centre on Achill Island, Co Mayo.
Mr Ring has also approved a €200,000 grant towards a rescue rigid inflatable boat for the Achill Coast Guard station.
The station was built at a cost of €2 million in State funds in 2007, but technical issues relating to a lease forced the rescue volunteers to use a temporary shed.
The issue has now been resolved, and Mr Ring paid tribute to the work of volunteers who “risk their lives for the State’s citizens”.
The Achill Coast Guard unit will share the premises with the Achill Fire Brigade, under a joint arrangement on building costs between Mr Ring’s department and the Department of the Environment.
Achill Coast Guard unit, formed in 1991, has 25 volunteers and has had 11 calls out this year. It received a national courage award in 2009 for its rescue of a Birmingham sea angler, Patrick Williamson (53), who fell off rocks while angling.
This year it has responded to such incidents as rescuing three people stranded at the bottom of a cliff with an incoming tide, assisting the Garda in the search for a missing person and assisting a casualty with leg injuries until the arrival of a HSE ambulance.
A number of rescue volunteers were conferred with long-service medals yesterday, including Seán Gaughan and Michael Lally for 40 years, Kevin Cleary for 30 years and Ian Scott for 25 years.
