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Ireland’s leading maritime newspaper covering the Coastal, Fishing and Maritime Communities

MARINE TIMES NEWS October 11th:
Three newly qualified volunteer crew members for Fethard RNLI

Fethard RNLI has three newly qualified volunteer crew members following a successful evening of assessments on Wednesday 9 October with Coastal Lifeboat Trainer Lenny Fourie.

Fethard RNLI volunteers Mark Brennan, shore crew driver, Cathal O’Connell, D class navigator, Gavin Kearns shore crew, Lenny Fourie, Coastal Lifeboat Trainer and Mike Cooper D class crew after the successful assessments.

Every RNLI crew member follows a structured programme of competence-based training and assessment relevant to their role. This covers a range of skills and competencies necessary to complete particular tasks both onshore and onboard the lifeboat. Crew training is a continuous process and the learning never stops.

Fethard RNLI inshore lifeboat Naomh Dubhán launched on exercise yesterday evening (Wednesday 9 October) as volunteer crew members Cathal O’Connell, Mike Cooper and Gavin Kearns underwent a number of assessments.

Cathal has been a volunteer crew member for nine years and is now Fethard RNLI’s first inshore lifeboat navigator. In his new role he will work with the helm in charge to ensure the lifeboat is safely navigated at all times.

Mike joined Fethard RNLI in 2019 and has progressed through his training and assessments to become a qualified crew member.

Gavin is one of the newer members at Fethard RNLI having joined in June 2023. Following months of training and practice, he is now the newest member of the shore crew team.

Speaking about these achievements Walter Foley, Fethard RNLI Lifeboat Operations Manager said: ‘We are incredibly proud of the hard work and dedication of our volunteers here at Fethard RNLI. They give up their free time for training, assessments and emergency call outs.’

‘Our volunteers are committed to saving lives at sea whenever the pager sounds, 24 hours a day, every day.’