During the past year Irish lifeboatmen have served with courage and honour. Among other services the Kilmore Quay lifeboat crew experienced the first capsizes of a modern lifeboat; they and the whole station acquitted themselves with distinction, though it is sad that one of the crew was drowned. The Irish district of the RNLI enjoyed another successful year's fund-raising. This coincided with a decade in the service of the Institution by the Irish National Organiser, Lieut.- Golonel Brian Clark, MC GM and he here reviews the "State of the Institution1—on both sides of the Irish Border THE LIFEBOAT SERVICE IN IRELAND has always been provided by the Royal National Life-boat Institution, although it is of note that, before the Shipwreck Institution (as it then was) established its first lifeboat station in Arklow in 1826, the Ballast Board had disposed a number of lifeboats round Dublin Bay at the beginning of the century.

During the period 1826 to 1922 the function of the RNLI of course embraced all of Britain and Ireland. The Charter of the Institution—the preservation of life from shipwreck—was as applicable along the Irish sea-board as it was across the water.

After the passing of the Irish Free State Act in 1922, the question arose as to the continuance or otherwise of the Institution's activities in Southern Ireland.

After correspondence with the Irish Free State Provisional Government, a deputation from the Committee of Management met the Minister for Home Affairs in Dublin in October 1922. It was stressed that the Institution was not approaching the Provisional Government with any specific request but that it wished for an opinion with regard to its continued work in the Free State. The deputation was informed that the Provisional Government would be very glad if the Institution would continue to function as theretofore. In 1923, the Irish Free State Government confirmed this attitude, and the repeal of the External Relations Act in 1948 did nothing to affect the status of the RNLI in the Republic of Ireland.

It is interesting now to note how the voluntary nature of the RNLI ensured its survival in the Republic of Ireland to this day, while HM Coastguard necessarily left the country in 1922, leaving a gap in Irish search and rescue cover which has not yet been filled.

Since 1922 the Committee of Management has continued to consider Britain and Ireland as an operational entity, while recognising nuances of attitudes and the need, at times, for a different slant in public relations on each side of the Irish Border.

Reverting to 1923, the Irish Free State Government had at the time suggested that increased assistance for the work of the Institution might reasonably be expected to follow the formation, under the Institution, of an Irish Executive. This suggestion did not commend itself to the Committee of Management of the day, because members took the view that the Institution's Charter laid on that committee alone the duty of maintaining the lifeboat stations round the United Kingdom and Ireland, a responsibility which they should not delegate. No such executive was, or has since been, formed. However the present Irish members of the Committee of Management, under the chairmanship of Lord Killanin (the President of the International Olympic Committee), started informal meetings with senior RNLI staff in Ireland in 1970. These meetings have ensured that Irish representatives on the Committee of Management are professionally briefed. In their turn, apart from their individual duties on the main committee of Management, the Executive, the Search and Rescue, Boat and Public Relations Committees, Irish members, both inside and outside of meetings, guide and assist the writer and the inspector of lifeboats from the wealth of their wisdom and with the help of their contacts.

It is noteworthy that in 1970, the then (and now) Irish Premier, Mr Jack Lynch, inaugurated an annual subvention to the RNLI in Ireland of £10,000. This sum has now been increased to £20,000 per annum. Its present level may not be considered dramatic when related to the annual cost of the RNLI's service in the Republic—about £650,000—but the 'no strings' principle of the grant is very important. This was established in the October 1970 letter from the Minister for Transport and Power, Mr Lenihan: 'It is my intention that this measure of assistance should not jeopardise in any way the independence which the Institution treasures and which is the basis o/ the magnificent voluntary service which it renders' The activities of the Institution in the Republic now come under the benevolent scrutiny of the Minister for Tourism and Transport, at present Mr Padraig Faulkner, and the Irish Government continues to rely on the RNLI to find the lifeboat service, accepting that the Institution will use the annual grant in the fullness of its operational experience of more than 150 years of lifesaving.

The lifeboat scene in Northern Ireland is totally unchanged from what it always has been. The crews of its lifeboat stations serve seafarers, as do their fellows in the South and in England, Scotland and Wales, with a dedication which is often taken for granted. The fund-raisers often collect more per head of population than do their English counterparts, despite the gradual disappearance of not only favourite street-collecting spots, but also of some of the streets themselves; and situations as described by the Lurgan branch honorary secretary: 'No results of flag day yet. Now If really think our branch has had the lot— everyone on strike, no power and two bombs in the town in the afternoon.

Everyone scarpered very quickly after that!' The origins of the lifeboat service in the Republic of Ireland are therefore no different from those of the Royal National Life-boat Institution as a whole. It is, in fact, a supra-national organisation with international responsibility and reputation. The practicalities of fund raising, however, have led to a special identity, 'Irish Lifeboats', but supporters throughout the whole of Ireland are perfectly well aware that it is the Royal National Life-boat Institution which finds this lifesaving service around the whole island, thereby providing, in the Republic, the necessary arrangements for the rescue of persons in distress at sea around the coast of Ireland, as required by the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, to which the Irish Government is a signatory.

This article is based on the ten years of experience enjoyed by the writer.

During that period Irish fund-raising revenue has increased very satisfactorily from £33,765 (1966) to £197,387 (1977).

This is an improvement of 485%, to which the Government grant and Irish Shoreline membership have contributed.

Support for the RNLI throughout Ireland is increasing as people more and more realise that the lifeboat service is not a State service, that there are very good reasons why it should remain voluntary and that the men who man the lifeboats on the coast of Ulster, Leinster, Munster, and Connacht are fellow Irishmen who deserve their solidarity, their admiration and regular financial support.

The administration of both the operational and organisational sides of the Institution in the Republic has its own peculiar problems. Spares for lifeboats have never been subject to import tax and VAT paid is later recovered. But such items still have to be cleared by Customs and the absence of documentation can cause delay. Fund-raising supplies are subject to VAT, but the importation of all RNLI stores, of any kind, is being simplified as EEC Regulations come into full effect. These problems of importation very soon demanded, some years ago, that flag day supplies be administered from the Dublin office, smail as it always has been; the sale of trading items is now also handled in this way.

Despite the problems of operating the Institution's Irish fleet and fund-raising organisation across an international border and despite the dire social problems of its Northern Irish branches, the affairs of the RNLI throughout the whole island are prospering. Irish lifeboat crews on both sides of the border continue to save lives in a manner which is second to none in voluntary, selfless and courageous service; an example to Irishmen everywhere.

Station and financial branch committees, especially the honorary secretaries who are the launching authorities of the 23 offshore and inshore lifeboats, devote hours of their valuable time in their two fields of activity.

It is an honour to serve them and, through them one of the oldest and most respected charities in the world—the Royal National Life-boat Institution..