Floating pontoon to cut response times to emergencies on Shannon

A new floating pontoon on the banks of the Shannon in Co Limerick will cut the response time to emergencies by two-thirds, according to the rescue services.

The Limerick Marine Search and Rescue Service, a voluntary organisation with 23 members, applied to the JP McManus Charitable Foundation for a grant of €70,000 to build the pontoon to cut the response time which previously stood at five to six minutes.

Tom Cusack, an underwater diver with the group, said the pontoon acts in lieu of a dock, meaning rescuers do not have to travel to a public slipway to launch their boats. The response time was now in the region of two minutes.

“It allows us to keep our boats on the water 24/7. There’s no more travelling by road to launch a boat down a slipway. We literally just have to travel to the quays where our boats are constantly stationed now. It acts as a dock basically.

“It’s more or less a floating platform with a gangway that’s down off the quay wall that leads down on to the floating section of it, and then the boats are attached to that.”