Lack of beach lifeguards for Inishowen 'cannot happen again' this summer season, councillors say

At this week’s Inishowen Municipal District meeting, Matthew Byrne, Waste Regulation Officer with the council’s Environment section, confirmed that advertisements have ‘gone out’ seeking applications for temporary beach lifeguards for the summer season.

He added that, in relation to pool tests, there has been ‘no uptake’ on a Letterkenny location, ‘so as far as I know, testing will take place in Ballyshannon, unless someone comes forward and requests it in Letterkenny’.

Councillor Martin Farren queried if the council could liaise with available swimming pools in Derry ‘to train the lifeguards up’.

He said: “I know you’re doing your very best to have them in place for the summer season and it is very important we have them in place in Inishowen. We have to make sure what happened last year, does not happen again.”

Colr Johnny McGuinness agreed and said councillors were ‘willing to do anything’ in their power to ‘influence a positive result in the recruitment programme this year’.

He also queried about ‘reaching out’ to pools across the border.

Last year, no lifeguards were assigned to Shroove beach while one was assigned to Culdaff slightly later in the season. At the time., Donegal County Council said that, despite repeated advertisement, there had been a ‘low number’ of applications for the 2022 bathing seasons, particularly in the Inishowen area. The advertisement for 2023 is at www.donegalcoco.ie