Letters to the Editor: Water safety as crucial as road safety
More than half of accidental drownings, 57%, were preceded by land-based activities such as walking and angling from shore, says Water Safety Ireland deputy CEO Roger Sweeney
I am writing to highlight the urgent need for increased prioritisation of water safety in Ireland, paralleling the significant attention we give to road safety. Every year, numerous lives are lost or permanently affected by preventable water-related accidents, particularly over the summer months.
Drowning tragedies leave an average of 10 families and communities in grief every month. It is a year-round killer, taking an average of 118 lives annually. Notably, of the 1,300 road and water deaths that occurred over five years, 45% were drownings. Males accounted for 70% and half were people aged 40 to 64.
Contrary to popular belief, less than a quarter were preceded by swimming (23%), although with the rise in sea swimming since covid, it’s crucial that people address the dangers associated with swimming in nature.
More than half of accidental drownings (57%) were preceded by land-based activities such as walking and angling from shore. People often drown due to unexpected falls or when overestimating their ability and underestimating the risk.
Alcohol can lead to risky behaviour and is a factor in one-third of drownings. A Water Safety Ireland survey revealed that half of respondents lack swimming skills, and many do not wear lifejackets during water-based activities.
This points to the need for people to have a water safety conversation with loved ones that emphasises the importance of learning swimming and lifesaving skills, of wearing personal flotation devices, and supervising children closely.
It is a conversation that is all too often put on hold until hot weather tragedies start to happen — and they happen every year.
We need a cultural shift in attitudes toward water safety, similar to the changes seen with road safety. This involves instilling a sense of responsibility in oneself and those we love around education, awareness, and stricter compliance with regulations on lifejacket usage. By making water safety a family priority, we can prevent unnecessary tragedies and ensure safer enjoyment of our waterways.
The United Nations has declared July 25 as World Drowning Prevention Day and yesterday marked the start of Ireland’s National Water Safety Awareness Week. Now is the time to have that water safety conversation with loved ones — and oneself. Together, we can bring drownings down.
I’m worried about the absence of insects. We have no house flies and I haven’t reached for the fly swatter this year. There are no butterflies in the garden as there always were. The absence of bees is widely reported. Where have all the bugs gone?
I suspect it is another case of Silent Spring, when DDT was exposed as the cause for the absence of song birds. Almost certainly, the villain is a chemical poison used for agricultural purposes — pesticides.
Human fertility is now thought to be compromised by Roundup.
Many EU nations report declining birth rates, and I think another agricultural chemical is killing off our bugs. I think the loss of insects is a hazard none of us have yet appreciated.
Offaly and Laois campaigned magnificently in this season’s Joe McDonagh Cup, ultimately playing out a high-quality, closely fought final. However, like all bar one Joe McDonagh finalists in past years, their seasons came to an abrupt end the weekend before last against the Liam McCarthy Cup teams of Cork and Wexford.
The Joe McDonagh is being run off with indecent haste and earlier than necessary, all so that the finalists can be fed into the "resuscitation programme" of the third-placed teams in both the Munster and Leinster championships.
Given due respect, the closing games of the Joe McDonagh Cup should be played in the deserving context of opening matches at the quarter-final/semi-final stages of the senior championship.
Then, having won or lost, they will be allowed to appreciate and reflect on reaching their pinnacle without having to ready for likely hurling demolition within days.
While Offaly did much better against Cork last weekend, in comparison to last year’s 32-point defeat to Tipperary, it is not right that a county, which brought so much to this year’s hurling season, has now put away its jerseys for another year in the shadow of nine-point defeat.
To claim decriminalisation is “very complicated” is ridiculous. This is yet another attempt to sabotage the Citizens Assembly on Drugs Use which, to the alarm of Ireland’s backwards, out-of-touch establishment, delivered very clear recommendations.
There is no necessity to complicate a very simple issue. Decriminalisation means no criminal sanctions for personal possession, use, or cultivation.
A particularly pleasing aspect of the results from the recent elections to the European Parliament was the return of additional Irish speakers. Aodhán Ó Ríordáin and Cynthia Ní Mhurchú now join Seán Kelly and Billy Kelleher who were in the outgoing parliament and who have also been elected.
This means that, of the 14 Irish members in the new parliament, there are four who are willing and able to speak Irish.
This is particularly important given that, since January 1, 2022, together with the other 23 official languages of the EU, Irish enjoys the status of a full working language of the union.
Because of this, more than 200 Irish language staff are now employed in Brussels and other locations. It is important that the political commitment to the language is seen to match our official commitment to it.
The recent election results I think are also an indication that Irish voters have an added respect for those candidates who are Irish speakers.
Comhghairdeas leis an gceathrar Gaeilgeoirí a toghadh agus go n-éirí go geal leo sa bparlaimint nua.
Summer solstice, on Friday, is the longest day of the year with about 17 hours hours of daylight.
In fact, around the summer solstice, even at midnight, it seems like twilight. The sun is at its closest to Ireland, with the potential to deliver warm weather and glorious sunshine.
Although the sun begins to slowly journey south, nature is at its most active during the next three months. The trees are in full foliage, plants and shrubs are blooming, hay and silage is being saved and the coastline and landscape are spectacular.
It’s summertime — the season for outdoor activity. It’s a time to enjoy delicious 99s and ice-cold drinks.
The effects of global warming on Ireland’s summer are more apparent each summer. Although sea temperature at 13.5C is slightly below the record 15C measured at last year’s summer solstice, the sea around our coast will warm quickly under the hot sun and likely surpass 20C by August.
Smacks of jellyfish — harbingers of warm water — are already basking off the Wild Atlantic Way.
Summer season is lasting longer and higher temperatures are becoming the norm, though not nearly as hot as the debilitating Mediterranean heatwaves.
The good weather should keep our green and pleasant land in all its glory well into September.
The ’s sport section on Saturday punctuates an Irish summer. Like my father before me, it’s documentation I like to refer to prior to contemplating the “ins and outs” of that weekend’s camogie, football, hurling, and ladies football matches.
Christy O’ Connor’s “Talking Points” column ‘ Backroom teams will need to have calculators at the ready’ (June 15) introduced as it was (in reference to various football fixtures) by the sub headline of ‘getting the maths right this time’.
Thank you to Christy for mentioning the Waterford senior Gaelic football team in same and their achievements in 2024. Christy tells readers that Waterford footballers can look back with pride to having won two championship games (inclusive of the Tailteann Cup) for the first time since 2011.
Christy adds that 2024 was a year in which Waterford narrowly missed out on a chance to play three championship games in one season for the first time in the county’s history.
Leaving aside the muddle to the current year that this statement leaves, the maths weren’t right in regard to claims of a history devoid of not having played three championship games in one season.
In 2018, when Waterford lost to Tipperary in the Munster championship, the Déise went on to beat Wexford in an All-Ireland qualifier. In a third game in that year’s championship, it was Monaghan (who went on to be beaten by a point by Tyrone in the All-Ireland semi final) who knocked Waterford out.
There has been but one occasion when Waterford won a Munster senior football championship and contested the All-Ireland final of that year. It was in 1898, when having beaten Tipperary in a semi final, Waterford overcame Cork in the Munster final. The Déise fell short in the final against Dublin. Getting the maths right here, that was three games (and two championship wins).
I trust the will correct the record and I look forward to reading more of Christy O’Connor’s excellent game previews and thoughts on matters Gaelic games.
