Coast Guard gets €1.6m base as Coveney notes personal link after father’s drowning

It operated for over a century out of a shed with no running water. But now the members of one of Ireland’s busiest Coast Guard units can boast one of the most advanced bases in the country.

The new, state-of-the-art €1.6m base in Crosshaven, Co Cork, replaces a base built in 1888, which had been in permanent use until recently. The new facility has been designated a regional Coast Guard training centre for the south.

It will also act as an emergency management co-ordination centre for other statutory services involved in maritime, inshore, and inland search-and-rescue operations across the vast sweep of Cork Harbour.

Marine Minister Simon Coveney, whose father Hugh drowned after falling while walking along cliffs near Robert’s Cove in March 1998, said his family has a deeply personal connection with the Crosshaven Coast Guard unit.

“It is fantastic to finally see recognition of their dedication and professionalism through the delivery of this new facility,” he said.

The officer in charge of the unit, Vincent Farr, said: “We have been the busiest unit in the southern sector for the last 10 to 15 years, with about 38 call outs a year.

“We were based in what was, effectively, a small 18ft by 9ft shed, with no running water and no changing facilities for a team of 20 volunteers.

“The new base is fantastic. There is simply no comparison with the old base. The new facilities bring us on in leaps and bounds in to the 21st century.”

Director of the Irish Coast Guard, Chris Reynolds, who paid tribute to Mr Farr and his team for their dedication over the years, said it was a proud day for Crosshaven.

“Cork Harbour is synonymous with maritime progress in Ireland: A thriving commercial harbour, home to one of the most successful yacht clubs in the world, Haulbowline Naval Base, and a maritime research cluster centred at the National Maritime College of Ireland.

“It is therefore fitting that the Coast Guard should have a suitable building in the lower harbour.”

The base was developed by the Department of Transport and the OPW.

Mr Coveney presented 40-year service medals to Coast Guard members Patrick Lake and Micheál Murphy, Crosshaven, and James Nyhan, Old Head of Kinsale; 30-year service medals to John Kelleher, Glandore, and Thomas Gleasure, Oysterhaven, with 20-year service medals to Richard Hurley, Toe Head; William Walsh, Ballycotton; Adrienne McCarthy, Castletownbere; Con Midleton, Crosshaven; Maurice Rice, Guileen, Liam Coughlan and William Nyhan, Old Head of Kinsale, and Michael Collins, Oysterhaven.