Tá na báid ar snámh san fharraige, Slán abhaile go dtaga na fir. The boats are floating on the sea, May the men come safely home.
Irish folk song

An island on western Europe’s extreme, Ireland is defined by the sea. Battered by the Atlantic and beguiled by the treacherous Irish Sea, she has seen more than her fair share of maritime tragedy – but also of daring rescue.

The first official, dedicated lifeboat in Ireland was stationed at Clontarf by the Dublin Ballast Board in 1801. Dublin Bay was notorious for shipwrecks, and by 1820 the board, which was in charge of improving safety and navigation in the bay, was operating five lifeboats (Clontarf, Dalkey, Pigeon Dock and two at Poolbeg). These boats formed the first organised lifesaving service in European waters, saving many lives.

When the RNLI was founded in 1824, the whole island was part of the ‘United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland’, and the first RNLI lifeboat station in Ireland was established in Arklow, Co Wicklow, in 1826. Over the next 100 years, more stations sprang up all round the island, crewed, as is still the case, by local volunteers. By the time the Irish Free State was established in 1922, there were 24 Irish RNLI lifeboat stations. British Government agencies, such as HM Coastguard, withdrew services from the free state, but the RNLI’s independent, volunteer-driven services remained.

In the March 1926 issue of the Lifeboat, an article on the roll out of motor lifeboats reads: ‘This work in Ireland has not been affected by the political changes and the setting up of an Irish Free State Government with the status of a Dominion. At the express wish of this Government the Institution is continuing to maintain the Service in the Free State as well as in Northern Ireland.’

Lifeboat stations in the 26-county free state (which was declared a fully independent republic in 1949) and in Northern Ireland, carried on saving lives under the RNLI banner. Today, around the island’s coastline (and indeed at the RNLI’s inland lifeboat stations at Lough Derg and Enniskillen), lifeboat crews are getting busier year on year. In 2009, Irish lifeboats launched 978 times, a 13% increase on 2008, and rescued more than 1,000 people.

Ireland’s first Tamar class lifeboat is scheduled to arrive at Kilmore Quay, Co Wexford, by the end of the year, and in 2011 Ireland’s first RNLI lifeguards begin their patrols on some of Co Antrim’s most popular beaches.

Let’s meet some of the people who help make the RNLI in Ireland what it is today. Dick Robinson (67) is a former crew member from Valentia Lifeboat Station, Co Kerry, the RNLI’s most westerly lifeboat station. He is now President of the Ennis RNLI Fundraising Branch in Co Clare, a sea safety adviser and a member of the Lifeboat Enthusiasts’ Society.

‘Valentia was a special place to grow up. My mother’s father went there from Swansea as a cable operator. When islanders left to find work elsewhere, I remember him saying to them: “I don’t know how you can leave such beautiful scenery.” One woman said back: “Mr Renwick, you can’t eat scenery.” The sea is a big part of life there. I went to school by boat for 6 years, and what I learned on the boat was the only lesson that was in any way interesting!

‘The sea is a bitterly cold and dangerous place but when there’s a shout you jump to it just the same. You never lose sight of the fact that lifeboating is about pulling someone out of the water.

‘Through the dark years, the dedication to the lifeboat and to doing the job was absolute, though the royal connection was seen as rather elitist. My father was Honorary Secretary of Valentia Lifeboat Station, and he was sometimes afraid to wear his badge, because of the crown.

‘But things have changed. When the Lifeboat College in Poole was opened in 2004, The Queen was taken for a trip around Poole Harbour on the lifeboat that was due for Castletownbere, by the Castletownbere crew. At the naming ceremony back in west Cork, a poem to commemorate that day was recited. The poem was framed and put in the boathouse. When the station and the area accept that, you can fairly take it that people have moved on and the bad old days are dead and buried and no loss.

‘The RNLI in Ireland is going to thrive. As long as the sea is there, people will be drawn to it.’

Kelly Allen is a volunteer crew member at Portrush, Co Antrim, and also works full time for the RNLI as Camera Project Implementation Manager. The project aims to provide suitable cameras and training to lifeboat crew and lifeguards, so they can generate the action photographs you see in the Lifeboat, as well as video footage of real rescues.

‘I’m Portrush born and bred, a local through and through. Some people call Portrush the Blackpool of Northern Ireland – it’s a small touristy seaside resort, set on stunning coastline, blessed with beautiful beaches, near the Giant’s Causeway and the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge. It seemed, when I was younger, like everyone in Northern Ireland came on holiday here! We serve three countries [Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland and Scotland]. From my house, I can see Donegal to the west, and I can see Islay from my bedroom window.

‘During the Troubles we had a lot fewer foreign tourists. Now we see a lot more Europeans and Americans coming to visit the station and the town.

‘Managing the camera project and travelling around the coast is an amazing opportunity to combine my two passions – photography and lifeboats. Everyone is always so friendly. There are some people I meet, though, who don’t realise the RNLI’s in the Republic of Ireland as well. Some people are surprised by that. But as far as we’re concerned, it’s one RNLI. Politics and borders don’t come into it.’

Terry Johnson, from Dublin, is former Deputy Chairman of the RNLI and a retired Trustee. Galwayman John Coyle is a current RNLI Trustee.

TJ: ‘RNLI Ireland operates around the whole coast, and has done so since Arklow Lifeboat Station’s foundation. Obviously, there was the political division of Ireland in 1922, but the RNLI, because it’s always been a community-based organisation, just kept doing its job.

‘In 1923, the RNLI approached the Free State Government and said: “We’re doing this job, we’re a charity, are you happy for us to carry on doing it?”

'We still have the letter from the Irish Free State stating the government would be very glad for the institution to carry on, and giving its support. But they did ask that an Irish Council be formed, so that they could liaise with someone resident, and we still have this all-Ireland Council, of which John and I are members. The Irish Fundraising Manager and Divisional Inspector report to the Council twice a year, so we keep a watching brief on the RNLI throughout Ireland, and can then answer questions if anything is brought up at an RNLI Council meeting or a Trustee meeting. We also represent the RNLI at naming ceremonies, funerals, awards ceremonies and other functions across Ireland.

‘The RNLI in Ireland is run to exactly the same standards as the rest of the organisation. The training is done centrally, and the regulations of operations are set out centrally. Branches and fundraising are run in exactly the same way. It is the RNLI.’

JC: ‘As regards the future of RNLI Ireland, the fundraising side will go from strength to strength, because now we have dedicated fundraisers, whereas before it was a bit of somebody’s job, a bit of somebody else’s. Now that has been improved, the raised voluntary income has shot up. There’s a huge opportunity there – mention the RNLI and people are so generous.’

TJ: ‘We always say that if the crews are the heart of the RNLI, then the supporters are the lungs!’

JC: ‘We’re pretty well crewed everywhere, but the exciting thing is that the age profile of our other volunteers, people who help out, is quite young by charity standards – often 30s and 40s – which is great for the future.

Ronan King joined Clogher Head lifeboat crew in Co Louth just 9 months ago. In July he made his first trip to the Lifeboat College in Dorset, for a Sea Survival course.

‘I’m a mechanical fitter for Irish Rail, so I repair trains, fix engines ... that kind of stuff. But I worked on a trawler for a while and, once, the lifeboat had to come out and pull it in. I’ve done a good bit of pleasureboating as well, so it was nice to know that there was somebody there to come to your aid if you got into distress. I’m from the village and I knew a good few of the crew before joining up.

‘We’ve done a few joint training exercises with Kilkeel lifeboat [just across the border in Co Down], and there’s a good bond between crew members.

'Even if you’re on Dun Laoghaire Pier and you see some of the guys from the crew there, you’d have a chat with them – the RNLI’s a little family within itself. Here in Poole it’s great to meet a lot of crew from the other stations, all around the UK as well, everywhere!

‘It’s very exciting coming to the College. You’re a bit nervous at first but, once you get here and settle down, the training is second to none. It’s a great experience, and you learn a lot that you can apply back in your home station.

‘We get huge support from the local community, absolutely huge. It’s only when you join and see what goes on behind the scenes that you realise how big this thing is in Ireland. There’s a fundraising committee and flag days; we had an open day last Sunday that had a huge turnout and a lot of support from crew, shore crew, supporters and the public in general.

‘It’s a community thing, but we always feel part of the RNLI as a whole. We get the Lifeboat and Offshore magazine at the station and, every time we go down there, there’s a new poster gone up on the noticeboard – there’s a lot to be read and a lot to be learned! It’s all very open and well communicated. They always make sure to tell you: “This is new, lads, make sure you read this!”’