Search divers to receive long service medals for 10 years search and recovery service to the state
Every few years the Irish Underwater Council (the governing body for scuba diving in Ireland) organizes a prestigious ceremony to recognise search divers who have given 10 years plus service on a voluntary basis. Since the inauguration of the event first in 2010 it has been held twice so far and last week it was announced that the next such ceremony will be in 2023 and as a search unit we should have our third group of long service divers eligible for recognition.
On the first occasion in 2010 the unit had 8 divers Paul O’Keeffe, Billy Carr, Dennis Granville, Noel Hayes, Maurice Carroll, David Carey, Olan O’Farrell and Timmy Carey who received their long service medals from the minister for defence Dermot Ahern TD followed by a reception by the president Mary McAlese in the Aras which was a great occasion. The second group of recipients was even larger at 12 in Nenagh County Tipperary at the annual dive conference when Gearoid O’Looney, Elden Keegan, Graham Burke, Peter Mullen, Eamonn O’Herlihy, Eugene Whelan, Finbarr Murphy, Mike Reidy, Peter Whelan, Finbarr Mulcahy, Dick Vaughan and Judith O’Brien all received their long service medals from a senior officer of the Irish coast guard.
Ahead of the next event the venue to be announced; the search and recovery diving officers Graham Burke and David Carey will go over all search logs for the past 15 dive years to see who is eligible for submission for consideration by the Irish Underwater Council for the ceremony; while the number will be smaller from the unit on this occasion; the next time around again in approx 3 to 4 years time we should have a large group of recipients again.
Well done to the entire group; one of whom David Carey is a founder member (from 1982); together they have been involved in over 200 search and recovery and rescue operations and saved a lot of lives and have made numerous recoveries all over Munster and sometimes even further afield (when requested by state bodies).
All the above is completed on an entirely voluntary basis and would not be possible without the support of the people of North Cork so a big thanks to everyone who has supported the unit over that period.
Our trainee course is almost coming to an end for the novice divers of 2022; well done to all who have completed nearly all their lectures and who have started their pool training; we should see them all progress to river and sea dives in the coming weeks. A special thanks to Mike Reidy and Dick Vaughan for organizing the course.