Lifeguards taken off beaches due to lack of resources

Lifeguards taken off beaches due to lack of resources


Anton McNulty

An Irish Water Safety recommendation and the embargo on recruitment in Mayo County Council has resulted in lifeguards not being able to patrol certain beaches in the county on any given day.
Irish Water Safety recommend that lifeguards most work in pairs on beaches in order to back-up each other and because the resources are not available to recruit extra lifeguards. As a result, some beaches in Mayo are affected by the recommendation with only the busiest beaches having lifeguards on a permanent basis during the summer. These include the Golden Strand and Silver Strand in Achill, Bertra Beach near Westport and Ross Beach in Killala.
Michael Gavin, the Water Safety Officer with Mayo County Council told The Mayo News that the activity on these beaches did not justify having lifeguards on a permanent basis and they will continue to monitor the number of people using the beaches.
“As a result [of the recommendations] there are certain beaches who do not have a lifeguard on certain days. On Achill the two beaches affected are not extremely busy with water based activity and we have had to improvise.”
Mr Gavin also explained that as well as ensuring the safety of water users, the Council also had to ensure the safety of its employee - in this case the lifeguards - and they had to follow the recommendations.
However, Achill councillor, MicheΡl McNamara said he was concerned that lifeguards will not be on the beaches everyday for the summer and called on the Council to reconsider their actions.
“I was made aware of this by local people and I ask Mayo County Council to put at least one lifeguard on the beach. People who are natives of Achill or traditionally come to Achill on holidays use these beaches and many would be of the opinion that a lifeguard is always on duty. Commonsense should prevail and my opinion is that one lifeguard is better than none,” he said.
Michael Gavin explained that ten beaches in Mayo are monitored by lifeguards.