Irish Coastguard
| Garda Cósta na hÉireann | |
.svg) |
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| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1822 |
| Jurisdiction | Ireland |
| Headquarters | Leeson Lane, Dublin 2 |
| Minister responsible | |
| Agency executive |
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| Website | [1] |
The Irish Coast Guard (IRCG; Irish: Garda Cósta na hÉireann pronounced [ˈɡaːɾˠd̪ˠə ˈkoːsˠt̪ˠə]) is part of the Department of Transport of the Republic of Ireland. The primary roles of the Coast Guard include maritime safety and search and rescue. The Irish Search and Rescue Region, which includes most of the Republic of Ireland and some parts of Northern Ireland, is the area over which the Coast Guard has responsibility. This area is bordered by the UK Search and Rescue Region.
The Coast Guard is responsible for:
The Coast Guard operates as a Division of the Department of Transport under the Maritime Safety Directorate. Together with the Mercantile Marine Office, the Maritime Safety Directorate comprises two main sections, the Maritime Safety and Marine Environment Division (MSED) and the Marine Survey Office (MSO):
Unlike coastguard models in some other countries, in Ireland it is not part of the Irish Defence Forces. It does however call on their assistance through the use of its Air Corps and Naval assets. Also, while in some jurisdictions fisheries patrols are the responsibility of the Coast Guard, in Ireland, these are carried out by the Irish Air Corps and Irish Naval Service and drug smuggling patrols by the Irish Air Corps, Customs, Gardaí and the Naval Service. (However, all the above government services can at any time request assistance from each other when needed).
The Irish Coast Guard is a civilian agency, members are not part of the Defence Forces and thus are forbidden from carrying any type of weapons and have no security or defence duties in respect of national police or defence.
Coast Guard personnel include full-time paid employees, and unpaid volunteers. For example, a member of the Coast Guard, Caitriona Lucas, who died while on a rescue/recovery mission in County Clare in 2016, was a volunteer.
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