Standing guard for your water safety

Heading off to the beach for a spine-tingling dip in the ocean is one of the great Irish summer traditions. Keeping you safe while you're there is the constant concern of the highly-trained lifeguards

Brothers John (left) and James Walshe, lifeguards at Garryvoe beach in Co Cork. With a marine engineer father, it's no surprise they gravitated towards a summer job by the sea. Picture Denis Minihane

WHETHER it’s the churning, choppy waters of a rip current, the venom from a weever fish sting or a rock-climbing child tumbling off and injuring himself, two Co Cork brothers are constantly on the look-out for danger before it happens.

Beach lifeguards James and John Walshe from Carrigtwohill have been patrolling Garryvoe Beach in East Cork since summer started. With a marine engineer father who passed his love of the sea onto his sons, and both of them surfing and boating since they were young, it’s no surprise the brothers gravitated towards a summer job by the sea.