Winner: Wexford MarineWatch
Summary
Established in December 2012 Wexford Marinewatch is a community based voluntary organisation whose volunteers provide suicide prevention patrols in the area of Wexford Bridge, Quays and Harbour. The primary objective of the organisation is to eliminate suicide and attempted suicide in this area of Wexford which had sadly become a place where many people had lost their lives. Marinewatch comprises over 100 volunteers overseen by a management board comprising representatives from – Wexford RNLI, Wexford Civil Defence, An Garda Síochana, Wexford Local Authorities, The National Ambulance Service, Wexford Fire Service, The Irish Coast Guard and The Order of Malta. Since its inception Wexford Marinewatch has ensured that no person has lost their life in Wexford Harbour and has intercepted almost 90 individuals who were intent on self-harm. This is a community based organisation which enjoys the complete support and respect of the people of Wexford in all its endeavours.
Group Contact: Cllr George Lawlor [email protected]
Citation
This project really impressed the judges. The number of volunteers is commendable and their numbers are constantly being added to via the collaboration with and between many agencies. In just 4 years, this unique,totally volunteer-driven, model has had a huge impact on the lives of its impact group resulting in suicide prevention in an area which previously had a very difficult problem. Significantly, since the establishment of this group there were no suicides in the area. This is a unique collaboration project and has huge potential to be rolled out as a model to other communities.