Throughout this month and next, tens of thousands of people will cross the Irish Sea, St George's Channel, the English Channel and the Bay of Biscay going to and from holidays. At the same time, hundreds of cargo ships will go in and out of Irish ports, plying trade that is the end product of our (still) booming economy. And more than ever at this time of year, many people will also take to our inshore waters, lakes and rivers to swim, canoe, sail and explore. There is, as almost all children will attest, nothing quite so much fun as messing about with water. And there are few elements quite as dangerous.
It is, therefore, comforting to know marine rescue services staged a major emergency simulation yesterday in Dublin Bay - a practise run for an event which they, more than most, hope will never have to be carried out for real. It is only necessary to recall names like Estonia and The Herald of Free Enterprise to conjure up the awful scale of disaster that can occur at sea.
Yesterday's exercise involved a staged emergency on board a roll on/roll off container ship carrying 45 passengers and 37 crew. Five people were airlifted off the supposedly stricken vessel in Scotsman's Bay and taken to ambulances in Irishtown. The remaining people were ferried to safety by lifeboats. Co-ordination of the rescue for assisted in situ by the Irish Lights vessel, the Granuaile. Behind the scenes, the operation was co-ordinated at the Irish Coast Guard's marine rescue co-ordination centre in Dublin.
The aim of the similated emergency was to test the preparedness of the State's search and rescue services. In times of real emergency, these include the Coast Guard's search and rescue helicopter bases at Dublin and Shannon, and the marine rescue co-ordination centres at Valentia and Malin Head, each of which operate on a 24-hour basis and are themselves supported by the Air Corps in Sligo and Waterford. And behind all these professionals, there are some 700 people, volunteer coastguard units and cliff rescue units, together with the admirable Royal National Lifeboat Institution volunteers.
There are many people alive today who owe their lives to these professionals and volunteers, whose spirits of co-operation is a hallmark of the marine community and whose spirit of selfless dedication is greatly to be admired. Statistics show that for the period 1994/98, the number of pleasure craft accidents almost doubled. Last year, there were 1,718 incidents involving the rescue services. As the summer deepens, there is a compelling obligation on everyone to be sensible - obey all safety advice, wearing a life jacket is a must - and always tell someone on land where you are going and when you expect to return. Do not risk the lives of others by being careless or, worse, reckless.