Slane Councillor Wayne Harding has welcomed the plan to attach low cost sensors to lifebuoys beside waterways in County Meath in a bid to clamp down on the theft of life-saving equipment.
He was referring to the attachment of electronic tracking devices to lifebuoys which will alert water safety officers when ring buoys are tampered with or go missing, allowing them to be replaced within a short space of time.
Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys said: “Unfortunately, the issue of this life-saving equipment being tampered with remains prevalent in communities across the country and as minister with responsibility for water safety, I cannot emphasize enough how reckless and dangerous it is to tamper with ring buoys.
“They are put in place along our rivers, lakes, canals and our beaches in order to protect lives and assist people who encounter trouble in the water.
“To be quite honest, the figures are startling. In 2021 alone lifeguards rescued 473 people from drowning, administering first aid on over 6,000 occasions and reunited over 500 lost children found wandering unsupervised near water with their families.
“So drowning is a needless tragedy. But sadly, some 80 people drowned in 2021 and this figure could be even higher if it were not for the efforts of our lifeguards, or local authorities and our water safety campaigns.”
Welcoming the development, Councillor Harding said: “The levels of vandalism and theft of these lifesaving pieces of equipment is alarming but I also think it really disgusts people to see them vandalised along our rivers, lakes and seas.
“We see them everywhere and thankfully most good citizens have never had any reason to even touch them. But many people have saved lives with them.
Cllr Harding said that, “it’s a shame that this initiative even has to be rolled out but it is the case as 80 people lost their lives to drowning last year.
“With this roll out as soon as the lifebuoys are interfered with a message will be sent to the relevant personnel so as the unit can be assessed and replaced if deemed necessary.
“Water safety is something extremely close to my heart having learned to swim in the river Boyne and observing the huge numbers who flocked to our public waters during this summer’s intense heat”.
The acting chief executive of Water Safety Ireland, Roger Sweeney, said that every year there are instances of ring buoys being removed.
“There are many people alive today, and I’ve spoken to many of them, who would attest to the fact that they would not be alive today but for the ring buoy, but yet the ring buoys are regularly stolen or vandalised. I’ve even heard reports of ring buoy rope being used as clotheslines!”
