Warning issued after six drown in last week
He was speaking just hours before it emerged a teenage boy had drowned in Ardnacrusha, Co Clare.
The IWS is urging people to avoid unsupervised bathing areas and to swim in where there is a lifeguard. Around 140 people drown in Ireland each year.
Last Sunday, a Limerick man drowned while swimming in the water off Kilkee beach in Co Clare. The man, in his early 50s, was found washed up on the shoreline in the evening.
He was airlifted to University Hospital Limerick where he was later pronounced dead.
Since Tuesday there have been four more deaths from drowning.
The youngest victim was a 10-year-old boy who died after getting into difficulty while swimming with a friend in Youghal, Co Cork, on Thursday evening.
On Thursday night, a 19-year-old man died while swimming in a lake with friends near Strokestown, Co Roscommon.
On Wednesday, a 17-year-old boy died after drowning in a lake in Celbridge, Co Kildare.
And on Tuesday night a woman in her 20s drowned during a midnight swim with friends in the River Feale, Abbeyfeale, Co Limerick.
Mr Leech said 62% of all drowning incidents occur in inland waterways and that 32% of all those who drowned in the past 25 years had alcohol in their system.
Mr Leech said parents should keep a watchful eye on their children when they were in the water because a tragedy could unfold in seconds: “If your child goes quiet in the water you will need to move fast.
“Last year, our lifeguards reunited 319 children with their parents... We don’t supervise our children carefully enough. We take our eye off them for one minute and it ends in tragedy.”
The Irish Coast Guard is urging people to wear life jackets and buoyancy aids if their activity takes them near the water.
Drinkaware.ie has joined Irish Water Safety to warn people why alcohol and swimming don’t mix.
Alcohol slows people’s reaction time, impacts their co-ordination and affects their perception of distance and direction.
Drinkaware.ie chief executive, Fionnuala Sheehan, said: “If you’ve had a few drinks and plan to go out on or into the water, then we would encourage you to do the maths and hold off until the alcohol is gone from your system.”
It takes about an hour for the body to process a standard drink.
- Never swim after consuming alcohol or food.
- Be particularly careful of young children wandering off.
- Always swim in areas patrolled by lifeguards.
- Swim in the zoned sea area.
- Swim with family or friends — never alone.
- Swim within your depth and parallel to the sea.
- www.iws.ie
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