Award for veteran life saver

Long-time insurance and risk advisor to the Irish Water Safety Association, Donal O’Sullivan, was one of only nine Dublin residents who received the Irish Water Safety’s Life Governor Medal of Honour at Dublin Castle this month.

Mr. O’Sullivan of Stockton, Castleknock became involved with the IWS in the late seventies and has made a significant contribution to recognising the dangers of both coastal and inland water in that period. “Let us tactfully say that for a long time, insurance and risk assessments of water safety were not entirely appropriate,” he said. “I have been working in this area for a long time now and I am happy to say that the awareness of the dangers inherent in water – whether it is inland lakes, rivers, canals and beaches – has become a lot more realistic. The medal, I suppose, is a recognition of that fact.”

Although he has recently retired, Mr. O’Sullivan still holds an honorary position in the IWS and is keen to promote water safety everywhere. “We all should be in the business of prevention,” he said “and I would urge and encourage as many people as possible to participate in water safety classes in Coolmine or elsewhere. This is particularly important for younger people.”

Apart from his dedication to water safety, Mr. O’Sullivan enjoys the theatre and is an erudite arts aficionado, recently having become involved in presenting the arts programme on Phoenix FM with Maeve Furlong. He has lived in Dublin 15 since 1970, firstly in Clonsilla – “when it was a good walk from the 39 terminus” – and latterly in Stockton.

Attending the presentation of the Irish Water Safety Medal of Honour, Mr Pat Carey TD paid tribute to their service to the teaching of lifesaving and the implementation of drowning prevention strategies.

“This Award by the Council of Irish Water Safety acknowledges your voluntary commitment and dedication over many years to promoting a public awareness of water safety and rescues based on the humanitarian goal of life saving and water rescue,” he said. “Tens of thousands of people have learnt lifesaving skills with Irish Water Safety and this is a special occasion for you as an Irish Water Safety volunteer who has instructed water safety or delivered water safety awareness programs down the years.”

Explaining the award, Roger Sweeney of the IWS said that “the Life Governor Award is presented for service of fifty years, or for service remarkable to Irish Water Safety or for members outside of the Association who have made a major contribution to promoting water safety in Ireland. It was started in 1995 as a way to recognise and decorate people who contributed to water safety nationally or internationally.

“On average, 160 people lose their lives in our waters each year and tragically many of these are preventable. We are blessed with bathing waters of high quality but these picture-postcard scenes can often mask hidden dangers therefore our waters have to be used safely.”

 

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