An off-duty Dublin firefighter and paramedic was one of those involved in a rescue in Dunmore East on Friday.
A swimmer got into difficulty at around 9.30am on New Year's Eve. Emergency services were contacted and Dunmore East RNLI sprang into action.
Six minutes after the pagers to alert the volunteers went off, the lifeboat was launched, and the crew was on scene just two minutes after that.
Volunteer crewmember and press officer for the RNLI in Dunmore East Neville Murphy said when they reached the swimmer just outside the rocky area at Counsellor's Strand, two members of the public had acted to aid the swimmer. Using a nearby life buoy they kept the man afloat. Neville says they saved his life:
"Just as we got to them a wave caught them and brought them into shore - a very timely wave and very lucky. So they managed to get into the beach themselves, and he walked away happy. A real good result."
Neville thanked the rescuers, one of whom was off-duty Swords paramedic Alex Daly, according to the organisation's twitter post. He also thanked the member of the public who rang 112 or 999 to raise the alarm. Neville said the conditions at the time were very good, and he stressed the importance of always being aware of tides and never swimming alone. He also advised "If you think someone is in danger, make the call".
We are proud to hear that off-duty Swords Firefighter/Paramedic Alex Daly was instrumental in a successful sea rescue at Dunmore East earlier today.
She spotted a swimmer in difficulty and swam to them, keeping them afloat for 20 minutes, until the arrival of @DunmoreEastRNLI pic.twitter.com/ZPBc6Sxa92— Dublin Fire Brigade (@DubFireBrigade) December 31, 2021
New boat
It was the first official rescue since the new Shannon Class lifeboat 13-41 ‘William and Agnes Wray’ officially went into service in November. The €2.4 million all-weather vessel is the first state of the art Shannon class lifeboat to be based in the south-east.
The Shannon class lifeboat is the first modern all-weather lifeboat to be propelled by waterjets instead of traditional propellers, making it the most agile and manoeuvrable all-weather lifeboat in the RNLI’s fleet. Neville said Friday's rescue demonstrated its advantages:
"We had a really fast response time. We launched within six minutes of the bleepers going off and we were on scene after another two. That kind of response speaks for itself. As a boat it's fantastic so easy to manoeuvre and operate, to get close to the shore, that's the real advantage of this boat."
