Galway's station history

The origins of the lifeboat service in Galway began in the 1990s following a number of incidents on Galway Bay and campaigning by the local RNLI fundraising committee, with the support of the maritime community and other search and rescue agencies.

At the Executive Committee Meeting held on 23 March 1994, it was resolved that an Atlantic Inshore lifeboat be established at Galway City because of the increasing number of search and rescue incidents in the area.

Galway City is located on the north side of Galway Bay at the confluence of Lough Corrib with Galway Bay.

In April the RNLI announced that an Atlantic 21 lifeboat would be placed on a year’s evaluation in Galway.

In October the first Galway volunteers went to the RNLI Inshore Lifeboat Centre in Cowes on the Isle of Wight for training and the following month the temporary lifeboat arrived in Galway.

At that time the lifeboat was kept at the workplace of Pat Lavelle, one of the founding members of the RNLI in Galway and the first volunteer Lifeboat Operations Manager. From there the lifeboat was towed on a trailer to the Docks to launch.

In February the foundation was laid and the launching davit was installed. Along with this a temporary boathouse was built and a port-a-cabin arrived to serve as a crew room.

Crew training continued and on 27 March at 9pm Galway lifeboat was officially put on service. The first rescue launch was on 22 April. Despite only being operational for 9 months, Galway was the third busiest lifeboat in Ireland in 1996.

Following successful completion of the evaluation period, it was agreed that permanent facilities should be provided. Proposals were therefore drawn up for the construction of a new boathouse over the revetment adjacent to the launching davit.

The construction of the lifeboat station commenced in February and was completed in September.

The station’s first permanent lifeboat, an Atlantic 75 called Dóchas came on service September.

The official opening of the lifeboat station took place on 4 October along with the naming and dedication ceremony for the lifeboat Dóchas.

The lifeboat Dóchas was replaced with the current lifeboat, an Atlantic 85 called Binny, which is 8.44m in length and has a top speed of 35 knots.

The official naming ceremony and service of dedication for the Atlantic 85 lifeboat Binny took place on 6 October.

On 7 November the Mayor of the City of Galway hosted a Galway City Council Mayoral Reception for the crew to celebrate 30 years of Galway Lifeboat. At the reception Pat Lavelle a founding member of Galway RNLI and Paul Carey Lifeboat Operations Manager accepted a framed scroll and Galway Crystal vase from Mayor of the City of Galway Cllr Mike Cubbard on behalf of the crew past and present.

In March the crew celebrated 30 years since going on station on 27 March 1996 at 9pm. During this period, the crew launched to the rescue 816 times. 74 lives were saved and a further 498 people were aided.