By Paul Carton
Ireland’s lifeboat, under water search and rescue charities were each presented with cheques of €6,980 at the Poolbeg Yacht Club on the 2nd of February.
Aqua sports clubs from around the country raised the money for The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) and the Irish Underwater Search and Rescue Unit (IUSRU) through the All-in-a-Row-Helping 500km event in the River Liffey on the 9th of December.
It was the second event of its kind by the All-in-a-Row-Helping campaign which saw boats, canoes and kayaks completing the stretch between Thomas Clarke (East Link) Bridge and the Grattan Bridge so that each participant’s efforts were added to reach the 500km mark.
The cheques were handed over by special guest Sean O’ Donoghue, who was a deep sea diver on the infamous Piper Alpha oil rig which exploded into flames causing the deaths of 167 men, 30 years ago this July. Sean was involved in the search and recovery of those men.
Speaking at the presentation on Friday evening, Rose Michael the Fundraising Chairperson for Howth RNLI commented “We are delighted that the All-In-A-Row Liffey Challenge was such a success. We are so grateful for the dedication and commitment shown by the team from the rowing, kayaking and canoe clubs who organised the event and their very generous donation to the RNLI. The funds raised for our charity will go toward the cost of training and kitting out our volunteer lifeboat crew and maintaining the lifeboats based at Howth, Skerries, Dun Laoghaire and Wicklow, so we can continue to help save lives at sea.”
Statistics provided by the IUSRU and RNLI from 2014 recorded 114 deaths through drowning in Ireland, with 28 people being rescued weekly on average.
Dave Kelly, the event organizer, speaking at the event said “We are so grateful to those who took part in the event, who helped organise the day, who promoted the event and all those who donated so generously. Thanks a million.”
If you wish to donate to the campaign, please visit www.allinarow.ie