The South East Mountain Rescue Association received funding for a variety of mountain rescue equipment to assist them in their work as a 999/112 volunteer emergency service covering the upland areas of Co. Waterford. The equipment comprised of a combination of replacing older equipment which had reached the end of its working life and investment in new equipment with improved technical specification.
Over the past 40 years, SEMRA has been very innovative in its approach to providing a 999/112 emergency service for the South East of Ireland on a voluntary basis, pioneering the introduction of formal search management processes in Ireland by bringing in leading experts from the USA and UK to deliver leading edge training to Mountain Rescue, Civil Defence, An Garda Siochana and
other agencies. A track record of sending their members to the bi annual international Mountain Rescue Conference and other training courses in the UK and Europe to learn about the latest techniques, technology and equipment. T hey are also leading the current National SARCALL Development Project to introduce a web based callout system for use by An Garda Siochana and Mountain Rescue Teams throughout the country.
The equipment is of a high quality with a working life of more than 5 years and will be used and maintained in accordance with the manufacturer’s recommendations. With increasing numbers of domestic and foreign tourists visiting the county and participating in walks and hiking on the mountains, a well equipped mountain rescue team is a vital infrastructure component for the Activity Tourism sector in Co. Waterford
This project was funded by the Waterford Local Community Development Committee under the Rural Development Programme 2014 – 2020 Local Objective 1 Tourism as a key driver of Economic Development Strategic Action Activity Tourism.
