The Irish underwater council, Comhairle Fo-Thuinn (CFT), has welcomed a decision by the Health Service Executive (HSE) West to upgrade the recompression chamber in Galway.
Four divers suffering from "bends" have been treated at the chamber in University College Hospital, Galway (UCHG), in the past week, but the council has been campaigning for some years to have it modernised.
The HSE West has approved €2 million for a new building at the hospital.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy provided by the unit can treat not only divers with decompression illness but conditions such as carbon-monoxide poisoning, gangrene and diabetic ulcers.
The UCHG unit is the only chamber on a hospital site in the State, while the Naval Service has its own unit for its diving team.
The underwater council has emphasised that the Galway unit is almost 30 years old and run entirely by voluntary input involving members of the Galway Sub-Aqua Club and consultant anaesthetist, Noel Flynn.
Mr Flynn has supported the council's campaign for over a decade, and has spoken publicly on the issue on several occasions.
Don McGlinchey, the council's president, said the approval represented the culmination of a "long, hard campaign", and paid tribute to Mr Flynn, to former department of health secretary Michael Kelly, and to current department officials Harry Harris and chief architect Richard O'Keeffe.
He said without Mr Kelly's help the council would "still be waiting for this announcement".
"This is another step forward for diving in Ireland, and it is also great news for the Galway Sub-Aqua Club."
He said members of the diving club had shown "tremendous dedication" in giving up so much of their time to staff the chamber.
The three divers treated on Tuesday night in the chamber were flown from Lough Derg by Irish Coast Guard helicopter. They were part of a group searching for a man who fell overboard from a passenger boat in Lough Derg last weekend.
