Over the last week Irish Coast Guard units have been distributing 120,000 Lost Child Wristbands to locations around the country.  In addition An Garda Siochana have very kindly offered to assist with distributing the bands nationally through their community policing network.

In Howth's area the wristbands are now available from the following libraries/ tourist offices - Charleville, Marino, Raheny, Donaghmede, Malahide, Baldoyle and Howth. They are also available from all Lifeguards stations in the area. Thanks to all the Lifeguard and library teams from Dublin and Fingal councils for their assistance in getting the bands out there.

While out on the water today, Sunday, training the Howth Coast Guard boat was tasked Along with Howth ILB to Balscadden bay to assist a Kayaker who had lost his kayak in choppy sea conditions. The Howth ILB was on scene first and recovered the kayak and returned it to the owner on shore.

Later during the training Howth were tasked to assist two small ribs at Ireland's eye in returning to the harbour. Sea conditions had worsened in the afternoon so the small boats were having difficulty crossing Howth sound. The ribs were escorted back to the harbour and the Coast Guard was stood down.

Incident 28&29/13

At 3am this morning (Friday 21st) the Irish Coast Guard Operations Centre received a request for assistance from the Gardai in the search for a person in Dollymount. The Coast Guard station at Howth were tasked and the full team paged to respond. As the teams were arriving on scene the person was located by Gardai already on scene. The team were stood down and returned to the station. 
 
Incident  27/13

Coast Guard Life jacket Compliance monitoring patrols of Dublin Bay have been in place since the start of June. The patrols are carried on the Coast Guard patrol boat, Grainne, operating out of the Irish Coast Guard station in Howth and cover the area from Bray to Skerries. The majority of craft have been found to be compliant with Life Jacket laws and a good adherance to safety including having kill cords properly attached.

However a number of craft have had insufficient life jackets for crew. The public are reminded of the need for properly fitting lifejackets, an adult life jacket on a child is very likely to come off when its needed most. While not a large number of Stand Up Paddle Boarders were recorded all of those encountered travelling point to point offshore were not wearing life jackets or personal floation devices (PFD), with often no communication or safety equipment and this is concerning. While on the water Grainne is available to the Coast Guard's National Maritime Operations Centre(NMOC) and has been tasked many times this year already to assist vessels and persons in trouble.

The Irish Coast Guard attended the Clontarf Viking Festival last
Saturday 15th. The team from Howth displayed Coast Guard vehicles and equipment and discussed water safety with the public. The Coast Guard Helicopter Rescue 116 completed a flyby to round the day off.
 
During th event the ground team from Howth were alerted  of a medical incident involving a head injury and sent an EMT and crew to the
scene. Thanks to the Dublin Civil Defence for supplying medical equipment along  with personnel to assist.
 
Meanwhile  another Coast Guard team from Howth were assisting their colleagues in Drogheda  in providing water safety cover for the Bon Jovi concert in  Slane.

Dollymount Lifeguards were today informed of a missing person on the beach. They contacted the Coast Guard and assistance from the Irish Coast Guard Helicopter and Howth station was tasked.

Ground teams from the lifeguards and Coast Guard searched by foot, bike, jeep and quad. Gardai were also informed and they located the person in a nearby village.

Incident 26/13

Howth CG was tasked today at 14.00 to a collapsed person on the West pier. A crew member was at the station and went immediately to the scene. Further volunteers arrived quickly along with a team EMT and paramedic. Advanced First aid was given until the arrival of an ambulance and the person was then transferred to hospital.

While standing down and having returned to the station the team were retasked to a second collapse near the same spot as the first. The person had been swimming and felt extremely unwell. First aid was given on scene by the team until a second ambulance arrived. Thanks to Fingal lifeguards who supplied an AED.

Incident 24&25/13

Howth CG were tasked to five incidents today. The first incident tasking was a call to the unit's boat 'Grainne' while it was out on safety patrol. A jet skier was endangering other water users near Clontarf so the boat crew were requested to speak to him regarding safe practice on the water.

The second tasking was to a collapsed person on Dollymount beach at 1745. There were no ambulances immediately available so Helicopter Rescue 116 was also tasked by Dublin MRCC along with the unit. While en route a DFB ambulance became free so was on scene before the CG unit arrived. Dollymount beach lifeguards gave first aid to the casualty before the arrival of the ambulance. R116 landed on the beach in case it was required to transport the casualty. The casualty was transported to hospital by the ambulance. The CG unit managed public safety while the helicopter was on the ground and co-ordinated with the senior fire officer on scene to ensure safe evacuation of the casualty.

While on patrol on the East pier later in the afternoon the bike unit assisted two persons from the water with throw lines. They had swum out too far and were unable to swim back.

Later on Dollymount beach the bike unit reported a fire to Dublin CG and stood by while DFB attended.

While standing by the bike unit intervened in a self harm incident and handed the person over to the Gardai for the individual's safety.


Incidents 18-23/13

At 3.15pm today the Irish Coast Guard were requested to assist the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) with a stranded baby porpoise on Portmarnock beach in Dublin. A Coast Guard team from Howth station travelled by boat and jeep to the location and meet with the IWDG representative. Porpoises are very similar to dolphins but have shorter beaks and are seen in the Irish Sea with the same swimming patterns as dolphins.

The decision was made to bring the baby mammal who was beached back to the sea in the hope it would successfully swim away. The boat team lead by coxswain Jaimie Blandford carefully placed the mammal on board and brought it a kilometre out into the open water.

The porpoise now named “Fungie Beag” was placed in the water, after some initial hesitation it successfully returned to the water and swam back into the Irish Sea, hopefully returning to its family.

Video & Photos follow...