Skerries Coast Guard is a voluntary coastal rescue unit of the Irish Coast Guard (IRCG), one of the four State emergency services. The unit’s station house is located at Red Island lane in Skerries. Its members are trained local volunteers on call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, who give their time freely to the Irish Coast Guard, local communities and those in peril on the sea, cliffs and coasts of Ireland.
The response area covered by the Skerries team stretches from Laytown, Co Meath southwards to Malahide, Co Dublin. This amounts to some 40 miles of varied shoreline, including river estuaries and offshore islands.
Habitual tasks undertaken by the Skerries Coast Guard team include:
- Rescue of persons close inshore and in tidal waters
- Deployment and piloting of Drones to assist with search incidents
- Searching for missing persons
- Providing first aid treatment to casualties and assisting with their safe evacuation
- Acting as on scene coordinator during an incident
- Preparing and controlling helicopter landing sites
- Providing communication links for other emergency services
- Assisting other emergency services (Ambulance/Garda/Fire brigade) to respond to an incident
- Investigating pollution reports on the shoreline
- Promoting an awareness of water safety.
