Tag Archives: irish coast guard

ACROSS the May Bank Holiday weekend, Kilkee had no coast guard service available in the event of an emergency. A source has told The Clare Champion that the limited service the Kilkee unit of the Irish Coast Guard had been providing was further down-graded, following a recent training incident. It has also been claimed that the current coast guard crew have not recently passed an Operational Readiness Assessment (ORA) in more than two years. The Clare Champion contacted the Department of Transport on Wednesday for a comment on the claims, but it had not responded at the time of going to press. “The coast guard will say that they have a boat. We all know they have a boat but they don’t have a crew. Every time they need to go in the water, they need to bring an instructor down from Maritime SAR to even get on the water to do the training. There are about six people who …

The funeral arrangements for  Irish Coast Guard volunteer Caitríona Lucas (née Deely) have been announced. Caitríona Lucas lost her life at sea on Monday while she and two of her fellow coast guard team were on a rescue mission in Kilkee. She will be reposing at Liscannor Church this evening, Wednesday, from 5pm with funeral prayers at 8pm. Funeral mass will be held on Thursday at 11am and with burial afterwards in Kilmacreehy Cemetery, in Liscannor. A request has been made for family flowers only please and donations, if desired, can be made to Doolin Rescue. Meanwhile, Fr Joe Hourigan, parish priest of Lissycasey where missing man David McMahon is from, said, “Our community is in total sympathy with Catriona Lucas’ community.