Mountain Rescue Ireland calls for an increase in state financial support.
Mountain rescue teams play a vital role in assisting members of the public who find themselves lost or injured while hiking or climbing. The organisation Mountain Rescue Ireland says it is severely short of funds.
Hillwalker Eric Byrne had direct experience of the mountain rescue service when he broke his leg while on Carrantuohill in County Kerry. He was assisted by one of the twelve teams that work with An Garda Síochána throughout the country.
Team members are all volunteers but the cost of operating the service is significant. Their representative body, Mountain Rescue Ireland says the government needs to help more with the costs of operating the service.
Walking and hiking on Ireland's hills and mountains has increased in popularity in recent years, and brought €650 million to the economy in 2011, according to Fáilte Ireland.
Since 2009 government funding for the mountain rescue service has been cut by thirty eight per cent.
Gerry Christie from Mountain Rescue Ireland says there is a big discrepancy between funding and the operational expenditure,
The government pay one-third of what it costs to run the teams.
A spokeman for Transport Minister Leo Varadkar said that the minister halted the decline in funding to mountain rescue services when he took up office, and will soon announce,
Funds for the purchase of new vehicles.
This is welcome news, but Mountain Rescue Ireland say that another €500,000 per year would allow them to focus on rescuing hikers and climbers who find themselves in emergency situations.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 13 June 2014. The reporter is Joe Mag Raollaigh.
