Irish Coast Gaurd??

maniac_cop

Hi there everyone,

Just looking for some info if anyone can help.

Does Ireland have a seperate coast gaurd or is it all part of the army/navy?

I was wondering if you could become a coast gaurd without being in the army or navy. I have searched lots of sites and its really hard to get information on it. If anyone can help id really appreciate it. Thanks.

King Ludvig

Hi, yes Im pretty sure there is a "Coast Gaurd" seperate from the defence forces (army/naval/air corps). Ive seen the odd jeep in waterford which looks very much like a garda jeep only it has "Coast Gaurd" written on it.

There'll be someone along soon who can give you more information than me im sure.

http://images.google.ie/images?q=coast+guard+jeep&um=1&hl=en&cr=countryIE&safe=off&sa=2

christophicus

Indeed there is a Coast Guard. They have two choppers in Waterford AFAIK. From my understanding they search and rescue safety kinda stuff as opposed to the American Coast Guard that actively seeks out and runs drug busting operations.

The lads in the choppers are all ex-airforce I beleive, I am not sure if you can get in via civilian methods.

Also I believe they are a private company that is hired by the government, rather than being state run.

Thats pretty much all the info I have, I am fairly sure its all correct.

Tabnabs

maniac_cop, meet Google, Google, this is maniac_cop.

diverdriver

In fact the Irish Coastguard helicopters are operated by CHC under contract. They also operate for the UK coastguard. You don't have to be ex military to work for CHC but it surely helps. I do know of several pilots who were never military who fly for CHC.

I think in general most of the coast guard is voluntary.

murphym7

Very few "employees". Mainly made up of volunteers. They have the choppers, Cliff rescue and some RIB's scattered around the place. Most of the kit is pretty good stuff. The service is run kind of like the RNLI I think (without the fundraising). If you want to get invloved witht he RIB's or the cliff rescue you need to live close to the base's so you can be close for any shouts that come in. Not sure about the chopper stuff.

badabinbadaboom

The coast gaurd is run by the department of transport, its responsible for cliff rescue and pollution control heres a link.
http://www.transport.ie/marine/IRCG/index.asp?lang=ENG&loc=2029

Steyr

Helicopters are Sikorsky S61N's.
Reg's are:

EI-CNL
EI-CZN
EI-GCE
EI-MES
EI-RCG
EI-SAR

Based at Dublin/Waterford/Shannon and Sligo

maniac_cop

Dyflin wrote: »

maniac_cop, meet Google, Google, this is maniac_cop.

HaHa sorry......Thanks everyone for all your help

punchdrunk

Steyr wrote: »

Helicopters are Sikorsky S61N's.
Reg's are:

EI-CNL
EI-CZN
EI-GCE
EI-MES
EI-RCG
EI-SAR

Based at Dublin/Waterford/Shannon and Sligo

don't forget EI-CXS

badabinbadaboom

EI-SAR? now theres a fitting callsign!!

lostexpectation

this is response to mcguiness call for european coastguard?, i was wondering if we had one too, i notice for eg, theres a howth coastgaurd and howth lifeboat are the same or different?

why da F don't the gov use our taxes to fund a proper coastguard/lifeboat.

chc?

punchdrunk

the RNLI are a charity organisation,the government are not involved they do very well through donations and fundraising

the costguard are entirely seperate
as for the government running SAR? they failed at operating 1 S61 from sligo
how could they possibly maintain 7 of them!?

christophicus

punchdrunk wrote: »

as for the government running SAR? they failed at operating 1 S61 from sligo
how could they possibly maintain 7 of them!?

Lol they don't. Its contracted out to a private company .

Steyr

christophicus wrote: »

Lol they don't. Its contracted out to a private company .

CHC who also operate the UK CoastGuard.

One of our S61N's is in the UK at the moment as the UKCG new AW139's are not yet ready for night flying afaik.

Morpheus

Not only their own heli's though there is this interesting snippet on wiki about the Coastguards ability to request other aircraft and assets.

Is the AW139 certified for Air Sea rescue or could this mean the use of the CASA's?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Her_Majesty%27s_Coastguard

The Coastguard has seven rescue helicopters based around the United Kingdom (at Stornoway Airport, Sumburgh Airport, Lee-on-Solent, Portland). The Coastguard also has use of other Air-Sea Rescue helicopters provided by the Royal Navy, Royal Air Force, United States Air Force and the Irish Air Corps.

punchdrunk

Morphéus wrote: »

Not only their own heli's though there is this interesting snippet on wiki about the Coastguards ability to request other aircraft and assets.

Is the AW139 certified for Air Sea rescue or could this mean the use of the CASA's?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Her_Majesty%27s_Coastguard

our 139's wouldn't have the fuel payload to do SAR off the U.K coast without refueling,i imagine it means the CASA doing top cover,dropping life-rafts etc

lostexpectation

so like is their coastguard station in howth and another lifeboat station both with boats or what where the dublin heli operate out of dublin airport is it.

does the lifeboat have heli's?

Tabnabs

Another integral part of the CG are the coastal radio stations, located at Dublin, Malin and Valentia. Obviously you'd have to have suitable qualifications to operate the radio equipment though.

tricky D

lostexpectation wrote: »

so like is their coastguard station in howth and another lifeboat station both with boats or what where the dublin heli operate out of dublin airport is it.

does the lifeboat have heli's?

CG heli works out of Dublin Airport

CG and lifeboat are separate orgs but do joint exercises.

Lifeboat has 2 boats, inshore and offshore:
http://www.rnli.org.uk/rnli_near_you/ireland/stations/HowthDublin/fleet

CG do lots of other activities: cliff rescue, pollution monitoring, lifejacket compliance...
http://www.howthcoastguard.com/ for more info

patspost

IMES run the coastguard radio stations, eg Malin, Mizen etc. They have staff in Dublin as well as some in say Valentia radio station. They also have radios around hte country that they operate remotely for giving the marine weather forecast and marine communications etc e.g. Mayday messages etc from boats; fishing, pleasure on the coast and the inland waterways.

diverdriver

Is the AW139 certified for Air Sea rescue or could this mean the use of the CASA's?

The Air Corps has no SAR capability since it was taken away from them because they couldn't behave themselves like Officers and gentlemen. Only the Coastguard provides SAR at the moment. The CASA can provide top cover and has done so I believe. I edited wikipedia to reflect the correct situation.

480905

anybody who's interested might want to volunteer.

lostexpectation

shouldn't it be atleast 50% professional.

Fratton Fred

punchdrunk wrote: »

our 139's wouldn't have the fuel payload to do SAR off the U.K coast without refueling,i imagine it means the CASA doing top cover,dropping life-rafts etc

When a British ferry got in trouble last year off the Welsh coast, I believe it was an irish helicoptor that went to its aid.

I got the impression that the UK and Irish SAR have divided the West coast of Britain/East coast of Ireland up so that they don;t overlap. Makes sense to me.

The RNLI incidentally is the largest charity in the UK, although that is slightly misleading as the RN donate a shed load of money into it.

Tabnabs

The Irish cover Northern Ireland, but there is a SAR helicopter based at RAF Valley so that covers their side of the Irish Sea (source). Do you have any further information on how much the RN donates to the RNLI? I would be interested to hear about that.

Here's a map of who looks after where in this part of the world:

Fratton Fred

Dyflin wrote: »

The Irish cover Northern Ireland, but there is a SAR helicopter based at RAF Valley so that covers their side of the Irish Sea (source). Do you have any further information on how much the RN donates to the RNLI? I would be interested to hear about that.

That's interesting, thanks for that.

I'll try and find out what the Royal Navy do donate,I saw a documentary on the major charitis once and I think the figure that said was around £2m per year. The RNLI has some amazing benefactors. I guess one thing about an Island mentality is that we appreciate those that work at sea and even more so, the people who volunteer to save them. My old next door neighbour, incidentally, was a gafir

Growing up in Portsmouth, every event, bonfire night, carol singing in Portchester castle etc was always in aid of the RNLI and usually organised by the navy. They also halp out with training and stuff. I think that Navy days and other "Open days" at the base raises a lot of money for the RNLI.

Good stuff though, I have a heck of a lot of respect for those guys.

punchdrunk

Fratton Fred wrote: »

When a British ferry got in trouble last year off the Welsh coast, I believe it was an irish helicoptor that went to its aid.

yeah the S61 has a massive fuel payload so it can easily do a job off the welsh coast,they have done several times,one of my Dad's longest range job was way north-west of scotland,so far that they didn't have enough fuel to return to shannon and had to land on the Outer Hebrides

-boris

From what I've heard,civil defence are responsible for the land based units of the coast guard and the department of transport the helicopters.

robinb

Hi all - the Irish Coast Guard are the 999 service for all Search & Rescue in the Irish SAR zone. The coast guard has assets which it can task to a rescue - be it charities... Mountain Rescue Teams, Community Inshore Lifeboats, RNLI etc. - or Military.... Irish Navy, Irish Air Corp Fixed Wing. - emergency services Ambulances, Fire Crew, Fire Rescue, Fire Swift Water etc. - or their own, 4 SAR Helicopters (operated under private contact to CHC http://www.chcsar.com/ ), voluntary coastal units.

There are 54 coastal units (840 volunteers), around the Irish coast and waterways. These guys do a mix of cliff, boat, lowland, beach. They are all on pagers for 999 calls and leave their jobs to respond. This is pretty much the same as in the UK.

Where there is both a Coast Guard unit and RNLI lifeboat in the same area e.g. http://www.howthcoastguard.com and http://www.howthlifeboat.com the teams will have different briefs. In Howth, the Coast Guard specialise in cliff rescue, beach/headland searches, and preventitive patrol in a boat, while the lifeboat look after all sea response.

crey

Robin


So so sad to see how we fail to get our message across to the public of what a good job we do.



Chris

-boris

Who crews the helicopters ,the air corps?and do we eve own them?

arybvtcw0eolkf

diverdriver wrote: »

The Air Corps has no SAR capability since it was taken away from them because they couldn't behave themselves like Officers and gentlemen.

Whats that suppose to mean?.

Steyr

-boris wrote: »

Who crews the helicopters ,the air corps?and do we eve own them?

Its a CHC Operation, nothing to do with the Air Corps.

jhegarty

-boris wrote: »

From what I've heard,civil defence are responsible for the land based units of the coast guard and the department of transport the helicopters.

The civil defense and coast guard are completely separate.

Zuiderzee

The coastguard, professionals and volenteers, do a great job.
But there is a tiny number of professionals.

The pros deal with radio communications around the coast, its tied in with the MRCC - maritime rescue co-ordination centre.
The coastal stations are being wound down and most operations will be run from the east coast in future, I believe the Malin head station may have already been closed.

Other stations - Clifden and Minehead for example, are relay stations.

The helos are on charter from CHC, but operational control lies nominally with the coastguard under the direcion of the MRCC.

Its a shame really as an Island nation how little we put into maritime affairs, and how little the general public know about them.

A Norwegian professor, spaking about fisheries and other resources such as gas (and this was in the early 80s) once said it was as if alost the entire population stood on the coast and looked in.

I thought there was a chance missed recently.

With the amalgamation of various departments, surely to avoid duplication of work etc. they could have been inventive or reative and bought us more in line with other countres set ups.

For example, amalgamating - under and expanded Coastguard, Irish Lights vessels, the new customs cutters, the Marine Institute vessels as well as the MRCC and aspects of fisheries, maritime and telecommunications surveyors etc. to name but a few.
Rather than having seperate crewing agencies, technical departments, administrators et al - it would be easier to have a more comprehensive streamlined and cost effective agency.
Thats pretty much how the USCG operates.

And by having a slightly expanded role, especially on the fisheries side, it would free up the Naval Service for other operations.

Anyway, for those on the volenteer side of it - keep up the good work - some of us apprieciate it.

djtechnics1210

Can ya work for chc voluntarily or is it a full time job. Would love to get involved with this but couldn't commit to a full time role.

crey

Irish Coast Guard - Overview
Irelands maritime safety and security services are composed of the Irish Coast Guard and the Maritime Safety Directorate within the Irish Coast Guard and Maritime Administration (ICGMA).
As an island nation, the sea is very important to Ireland, comprising an exclusive marine territory of 220 million acres, which has strategic economic, social and environmental value for the Nation. The sea, for all its riches and potential for development, can be one of the most hostile and dangerous environments on the planet. The Irish Coast Guard (IRCG) is the nation-wide marine emergency organisation and is a Division of the Department of Transport. Its headquarters is in Dublin.
The overall objective of the IRCG is to reduce the loss of life within the Ireland Search and Rescue Region and rivers, lakes and waterways and to protect the quality of the marine environment within the Irish Pollution Responsibility Zone, harbours and maritime local authority areas and to preserve property.
Safety Vision
The Irish Coast Guard and Maritime Administration has responsibility to ensure that the marine environment is safe, secure and clean for all users and that it, and those who use it, are protected in an effective and sustainable manner now and into the future.
To deliver this IRCG has in place a best practice rescue, security and pollution control regimes to minimise deaths and pollution incidents in the sector. It also ensures that where incidents do occur, there is a high level of emergency preparedness and response to rescue and save life and to protect the quality of the marine environment.
The following give an indication of the scale of activity related initiatives to safety at sea carried out by the Irish Coast Guard in 2007:
• During 2007 there were 1961 marine emergency responses and 3500 people were assisted. The emergency management response extends onshore to the cliffs, coasts, lakes, inland waters and offshore islands of Ireland.
• During the same year Coast Guard helicopters were tasked 469 times, Coast Guard volunteer Units 822 times and RNLI and community lifeboats 832 times.
• In accident prevention 5600 maritime safety broadcasts were made to shipping and a safety on the water campaign carried out that targeted primary schools and leisure craft users.
• Some 50 maritime pollution reports were investigated in 2007.
Our target is to reduce all the above figures taking into account the level of maritime activity.

Irish Coast Guard Extracts from SoS
Objective I – Maritime Safety, Security & Environment
To minimise, through preventative measures, the number and severity of incidents from maritime activity within Ireland’s zone of responsibility that lead to injury or loss of life or damage to property or to the environment.
Strategies:
• Support the provision of information, education and training to develop ‘best practice’ maritime safety – shared with MSO & MSD.
• Influence attitudes and behaviours to focus on accident prevention and water safety awareness – shared with MSO & MSD.
Objective J – Maritime Administration
To enhance delivery of maritime administration services and to safeguard national maritime interests in the international maritime community.
Strategies:
• Develop the Irish Coast Guard and Maritime Administration taking account of national and international developments.
• Develop monitoring mechanisms, in order to increase awareness of the trends of marine traffic and possible threats arising in waters off the Irish coast.
Objective K – Maritime Emergency Management
To prevent as far as possible loss of life and damage to the marine environment by preparing for and ensuring an effective response to marine incidents.
Strategies:
• Provide maritime emergency management services through public and voluntary bodies and in cooperation with other States.
• Promote greater cooperation and knowledge sharing between the Coast Guard and the Department of Defence.
• Develop and co-ordinate an effective regime for preparedness and response to marine pollution.
• Provide an efficient and effective response to marine accidents and incidents.
• Increase utilisation of Coast Guard volunteers in the management and delivery of appropriate services.
• Continued investment in Coast Guard infrastructure and equipment.
IRISH COAST GUARD – CORE ACTIVITIES
The following are the core services of the IRCG:
 To provide a national marine search and rescue response service, including a service to the off-shore islands;
 To provide a coastal, inland and, where appropriate, cliff search and rescue service;
 To provide a post-emergency body search and recovery service and relative liaison;
 To manage, train, equip and provide for the health and safety of circa 1,000 Coast Guard volunteers at 55 locations on the coast and inland waterways of Ireland.
 To develop and co-ordinate an effective regime in relation to marine pollution;
 To provide a response to marine casualty incidents and to monitor/intervene in marine salvage operations;
 To provide a safety awareness and public information service in relation to the discharge of the functions set out above;
 To provide a maritime safety communications and paging service.
 To provide a national automatic identification system for shipping.
 Provide a maritime assistance service and act as a national point of contact between vessels and coastal states.
 Act as Single Point of Contact in maritime security incidents

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

Bit of an eyesore there mate... didn't even try readin it. Where did you copy that from?

crey

Coast guard Buisness Plan

Tabnabs

Zuiderzee wrote: »

The coastal stations are being wound down and most operations will be run from the east coast in future, I believe the Malin head station may have already been closed.

Your information is way out there, not only are they keeping things as they are, the government are investing millions to upgrade the three CG MRCC centres with modern kit.

Zuiderzee wrote: »

For example, amalgamating - under and expanded Coastguard, Irish Lights vessels, the new customs cutters, the Marine Institute vessels as well as the MRCC and aspects of fisheries, maritime and telecommunications surveyors etc. to name but a few.
Rather than having seperate crewing agencies, technical departments, administrators et al - it would be easier to have a more comprehensive streamlined and cost effective agency.
Thats pretty much how the USCG operates.

While I understand the intent of your point, it's a bit like saying amalgamate the gards and the army, and then put in the ambulance service, the fire brigade service and the bin men too.

The various groups you list do very different jobs which don't overlap in the majority of cases. Irish Lights aren't even a fully Irish organisation, but I'm sure the British would be delighted to take the funding we get and spend it on their own service...

Customs work for Revenue and it's a closed shop now that the INS input if finished.

Running the Voyager and Explorer is a very different task than the Niamh or Eithne. The crewing agencies are in reality one or two persons in the HR department of what are already large organisations (and have far bigger office staff than ships staff).

In fact in recent years the Irish domestic maritime fleet has notched up some highly modern and specialised vessels and crews who are as skilled as the ships they work on.

The real gaping hole in our CG is the lack of CG tugs, capable of emergency towing operations, pollution control and salvage operations. Whether done by civilian contracts as in the UK or by joint military & civilian ventures as is done in Norway, we are being left dangerously exposed and have to depend on the good will of our neighbours instead.

Zuiderzee

Dyflin, with regards to my work and my hobby - the MRCC is something I know a bit about.

With regards the Malin Head closure, see for yourself.
http://www.reedsonline.com/news/2008/07/shock-at-closure-of-malin-head-marine-rescue-stati.htm

http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/0650/D.0650.200804020285.html

http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0702/coastguard.html

I was officially told that Malin is have personel reduced, then shut.
The comms will be upgraded.

Unofficially Valentia may be kept but that remains to be decided. The original decision to close it also was postponed for other reasons - i.e FF were weak in South Kerry.

As for amalgamation, fair enough - customs may not want to be part of a coastguard as they want to have a closed shop -

But the others mentioned could be easily amalgamated since there is so much cross-over.
I know a bit about shipping, particularly survey work and nav mark deployment.

Granuaile and Explorer are both essentialy mid size multi purpose fully DP vessels, with similar equipment in terms of lifting gear.
To exchange roles they would require little work. For example, explorer often does bouy deployment and Granuaile has done seismic work on charter.

Irish Lights, like the RNLI, work very closly with Trinity House (England) and Northern Lights (Scotland/NI)
But they are self funding, from light dues paid by vessels operating in Irish Waters.

I never compared the NS to the MI vessels Voyager/Explorer.
They are virtualy semi-state but still do work on a commercial basis.
The MI own the vessels and are run from Galway but P&O do the marine crewing of the vessels, as opposed to the MI who did it a few years back.
There is a lot of duplication there.
An Ocean tug salvage/SOPEP capability is something I have long argued for here before.
Either as part of the Coast Guard or even as a Slua Muiri asset, there could even be an RFA type agreement for them to do PSV/OSV duties on a commercial basis with the caveat they can be called for SOPEP/SOLAS duties.

Tabnabs

Zuiderzee wrote: »

Dyflin, with regards to my work and my hobby - the MRCC is something I know a bit about.

With regards the Malin Head closure, see for yourself.
http://www.reedsonline.com/news/2008/07/shock-at-closure-of-malin-head-marine-rescue-stati.htm

http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/0650/D.0650.200804020285.html

http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0702/coastguard.html

I was officially told that Malin is have personel reduced, then shut.
The comms will be upgraded.

Unofficially Valentia may be kept but that remains to be decided. The original decision to close it also was postponed for other reasons - i.e FF were weak in South Kerry.

I'd be interested in who your official source is as they are going against the grain of government statements and a press release from December 2nd;

http://www.transport.ie/pressRelease.aspx?Id=31

Zuiderzee wrote: »

Irish Lights, like the RNLI, work very closly with Trinity House (England) and Northern Lights (Scotland/NI)
But they are self funding, from light dues paid by vessels operating in Irish Waters.

Again I'm afraid your information is not fully correct;
Irish Lights funding source;

"All Light Dues collected in the UK and Ireland are "pooled" in a central fund called the General Lighthouse Fund (GLF). The Secretary of State in the Department for Transport in London administers this fund. Operating funds are released to Trinity House, Northern Lighthouse Board and Commissioners of Irish Lights from the GLF. Under an agreement reached between the Irish and UK Authorities in 1985, Light Dues collected at Irish Ports are supplemented by an annual Irish Government Exchequer contribution to the General Lighthouse Fund." source

There is some exchange work done between the GLA authorities and the Pole Star has worked in Ireland when the Granuaile went north (not the only time the Granuaile has been outside Irish waters). Not being a strictly Irish organisation it will never be used in conjunction with other services (i.e. Marine Institute), rather the GLA will push their vessels to undertake a variety of roles. Indeed when I worked on the Pole Star we only had a 10 month work calender and had various other non buoy tender jobs to undertake when outside this schedule.

Either as part of the Coast Guard or even as a Slua Muiri asset, there could even be an RFA type agreement for them to do PSV/OSV duties on a commercial basis with the caveat they can be called for SOPEP/SOLAS duties.

Having worked for a number of years on supply boats, they would be unsuitable for this task, you'd really have to go for an anchor handler or commit to a new build.

So while on the surface amalgamation may be a worthwhile proposal, when you look into the detail, it is not practical, feasible or politically actionable...