Madam, - The photograph on page four of your edition of August 5th has infuriated members of the public who are conscious of promoting water safety best practices on and in the water. It depicts both adults and children not wearing personal flotation devices.
We have had a stream of phone calls both from our own members and from members of the public enraged by this issue. One poignant call was from retired garda Sgt Tom Lavery who spent most of his career in the Garda Water Unit and had on several occasions recovered drowned victims from the Cabra stretch of the Royal Canal shown in your photograph.
On average we lose six children under the age of 14 each year in very tragic circumstances. The photograph features children of this age in highly dangerous situations, while the adults stand by in innocent oblivion. By publishing such photographs you are encouraging this dangerous activity.
We wrote to you on January 11th this year on the same matter. How many times will we have to ask you to heed common sense and stop publishing these dangerous photographs which undermine the good work of organisations such as the RNLI, Irish Sailing Association, Coast Guard and many others? The wearing of a PFD, be it a life jacket, buoyancy aid, flotation suit or jacket, is key to preventing unnecessary drowning on our island nation.
We appeal to you to ensure when you are publishing photographs of people on small craft that they are wearing their PFDs, which is best practice and the law.
Your co-operation in this matter is requested to help reduce the unnecessarily high number of drownings in Ireland.
I don't believe William Rowan Hamilton, an intelligent man in his own right, would have wished to be associated with this photograph. - Yours, etc,
Lt Cdr JOHN FM LEECH, CEO, Irish Water Safety, The Long Walk, Galway.