Health and safety concerns have led to the removal of the well known life raft at Blackrock pier.
The popular raft which is enjoyed by swimmers has not been used at all this year and the announcement that it will be taken out of service for good was confirmed at this week’s meeting of the Galway City Council. Council executives explained that a host of problems led to the decision, including issues where life-guards were nearly drowned, swimmers had fallen off the raft, and others had suffered hypothermia.
The city council in conjunction with its counterpart in the county, operates an annual lifeguard service at Blackrock. Fine Gael councillor Pearce Flannery called on officials to provide the lifeguard incident logs for Blackrock for the past number of years.
‘’The raft has been there for the past 50 years and children were very unhappy that it was not in use this year,’’ said Councillor Flannery. Mayor of Galway, Councillor Donal Lyons also expressed his dismay that the raft will no longer be in use. It was indicated that this issue would have to be discussed further at a future meeting,
There are plans in place to refurbish the Blackrock tower next year and senior executive parks superintendent Stephen Walsh revealed that Cork based consultant engineers Cronin Millar has been appointed to compile a detailed tender which will be advertised in due course.
