Concordia rescuers to attend Dublin conference

MORE than 200 delegates are expected to attend a major
international conference on search and rescue in Killiney next month.

Organised by the Irish Coast Guard in partnership with
the UK-based Sheppard Group, the Search & Rescue 2012 conference on March
15 and 16 will bring representatives from across Europe and the US together.

One of the keynote presentations will be from the
Italian Coast Guard, which is attending to discuss the recent tragic Costa
Concordia incident.

This is the first time that the conference has been
held in Ireland and it reflects the fact that the country is heading up the
European Union Heads of Coast Guard.

The Director of the Irish Coast Guards, Chris
Reynolds, is currently chairing the network.

Coast guard chiefs from a number of countries will
attend the conference including the US, the UK and Sweden. All four Coast Guard
helicopters will be on hand to give a search and rescue demonstration at an
event in Weston Airport as part of the event.

Mr Reynolds has been asked specifically to prepare the
ground for a permanent European Union Heads of Coast Guard Secretariat, manned
by Coast Guard Officers from member states, the EU Commission and various
agencies.

The secretariat currently meets monthly in Dublin with
the plenary conference planned for Dublin Castle in August.

Earlier this year, the Minister for Transport, Tourism
and Sport, Leo Varadkar, confirmed that funding for the Irish Coast Guard and
the RNLI would be protected in 2012, and that capital funding has been
allocated to refresh the Coast Guard’s fleet over the next couple of years.