Public consultation on permanent lifeboat station for dromineer

The Lough Derg RNLI Lifeboat Station began operations from the premises of Lough Derg Yacht Club at Dromineer and plans for our new permanent station in the village are well underway. It is important that the public become engaged with the consultation process for the new permanent station location in their locality.
On May 25, 2014, the Lough Derg RNLI Lifeboat Station celebrated its tenth birthday. In those ten years, the lifeboat has launched 240 times, 60 of those at night. Volunteer crews have rescued 340 people and saved the lives of three people.

Following a rescue on August 13th of this year, the skipper of the vessel wrote this letter to our Lifeboat Operations Manager, Liam Maloney: “The lifeboat reached us within 20 minutes of my call and towed us to the safety of Shannon Sailing Dromineer. It would be hard to do justice to the speed and manner in which all those people concerned responded to my emergency call, including the operator who answered my radio call. It is beyond my ability to give adequate credit to their performance. After they had made a cool and thorough assessment of the situation their actions in getting us to safety were decisive and rapid. All the time they were relaxed and reassuring and quickly calmed my most anxious guests. I can only say, as I’m sure many have said before, that they [RNLI lifeboat volunteers] are a great credit to the RNLI.”
For many years the RNLI and the lifesaving work of its volunteers, have enjoyed the strong support of the people of Nenagh through the tireless efforts of campaigners in the RNLI’s expanding fund raising committee, chaired
locally by Niamh McCutcheon. The RNLI is a charity that saves lives; it does not receive Government grants and relies entirely on the contributions and legacies from the public to continue its vital operations.
Lough Derg RNLI Lifeboat Station is one of 44 RNLI Stations operating in Ireland. A local application to station an RNLI lifeboat on Lough Derg, led by Charles Stanley Smith and Teddy Knight, became reality, when, on May 25th 2004, the Lough Derg RNLI Lifeboat officially began
service. In the preceding year and a half, volunteer crews and members for the Operations Committee were recruited and underwent intensive training on the water and in the classroom, with RNLI Divisional Trainer Assessor Helena Duggan - our Trainer Assessor to this day.
Lough Derg is one of three RNLI inland stations in Ireland, the other two
are located at Lough Erne Yacht Club, Enniskillen, County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland and our sister station on the River Shannon, at Lough
Ree.
Lough Derg is the lowest, and at 27 miles long, the largest of the series of lakes on the river Shannon, the longest river in the Republic of Ireland. The shores of Lough Derg are bordered by three counties with the most outstanding countryside. It has secluded lagoons that can be accessed by narrow rivulets and many public and private harbours. It is a beautiful, serene and charming freshwater lake. However, it can be provoked by high winds that funnel between the hills that border its southern narrower stretches of water.
In the past Lough Derg was a major conduit for the passage of people and
trade goods along the river Shannon. Nowadays the lake is used for pleasure  by fishing and sailing boats, cruisers and barges. By necessity the rescue services must be present and ready to deal with increasing traffic and any possible difficulties that might ensue. Lough Derg is ready to do that, with
volunteers on call 24 hours a day, every day of the year.
The public meeting will take place on Wednesday October 15th at Lough Derg Yacht Club from 7 to 9pm