By Sean Moriarty

A well-known boat operator in Killarney has called for a dedicated search and rescue boathouse to be built near Ross Castle.

Donal ‘Dux’ O’Donoghue and local paramedic Eugene Tangney were involved in a dramatic lake rescue on Lough Leane after two male kayakers were overturned in bad weather.

The kayakers were able to get to Lamb Island and raise the alarm while clinging to plants.

The volunteer Killarney Water Rescue service launched their rescue boat from Dundag near Muckross, nearly 8kms from Lamb Island.

Their boat is currently stored at a private house and once they get a call they must navigate the notorious Killarney traffic before they can launch their boat.

‘Dux’ received a call from paramedic Tangney.

"He knew I would be near Ross Castle and would be much closer to the incident,” Dux told the Killarney Advertiser.

‘Dux’ and Tangney got to the scene of the accident around 15 minutes before Killarney Water Rescue.

The time difference highlighted the challenges the volunteers face and the situation could have been much worse if the accident occurred during the peak summer season and the volunteers were delayed getting to their launch slip in the notorious tourist-season traffic gridlock.

“There is plenty of land down near Ross Castle to build a slip, or better again, a small shed where the rescue boat could be kept,” ‘Dux’ added.

“It would be very important to the town of Killarney to make this happen, the current situation is like having a fire station for Killarney in Farranfore.”