Councillor to launch beach safety scheme after his near-drowning incident - Donegal Daily

Cllr Brian Carr has used a terrifying ordeal to campaign for change in a bid to help emergency services respond to coastal rescues in Donegal

Donegal County Council has given the green light to a pilot scheme designed to help identify coastal locations during emergencies.

The Council’s Environment Section and Beach Team have developed the Coastal Location Code, and it will be officially launched at Narin Beach on Thursday, August 27th at 2pm.

Donegal County Council and the Irish Coast Guard are inviting members of the public to attend the launch of the pilot project at Narin Blue Flag Beach.

The initiative aims to support faster and more accurate emergency responses by providing unique location identifiers at beaches and coastal access points.

In an emergency, beach users will be able to quote the Coastal Location Code displayed on nearby signage, helping emergency services pinpoint their exact location when every second counts.

The initial motion was brought to the table by Cllr Brian Carr, and the new initiative is a very personal one.

Carr and his wife Marie were enjoying a beautiful day out at Tramore Beach on August 15, 2025, when disaster struck.

Their son Ben (who was 9 at the time) and his cousin Amelia (10) were swimming when all of a sudden they were dragged out to sea by a rip current.

Carr raced into the water, but it wasn't long before he also got into difficulty.

Thankfully, Maitiú Clerkin, Dualta Bracken, Turlough McDaid and Joseph Herron were on hand to rescue Brian, and the two children.

However, what became apparent during that terrifying ordeal was the difficulty emergencies had in locating the Carr family.

"A year ago, on 15 August 2025, my son Ben and his cousin Amelia, were swept out to sea by a rip current. I went into the water to try to help them and after a time found myself in difficulty.

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"Thankfully, four lads Maitiú Clerkin, Dualta Bracken, Turlough McDaid and Joseph Herron came to our assistance with two surfboards. Without them, the outcome would have been very different," said Carr.

While we were in the water, Carr's wife Marie was on the shore going through every parent’s worst nightmare, trying desperately to get them help.

"Marie spent seven minutes on the phone to the ambulance service trying to explain exactly where we were.

"She couldn’t give them an Eircode or exact location, and eventually had to hang up and contact the Coast Guard and get helicopter 118 sent as I had to be airlifted. Even then, the rescue helicopter had difficulty finding us and initially flew past the beach before being redirected," said Carr.

That experience demonstrated to Carr just how important it is to be able to give emergency services an exact coastal location quickly.

"Those seven minutes, and the difficulty locating us, are the reason I wanted something put in place. In an emergency, every second counts.

"When I returned to Donegal County Council in November 2025, I brought a motion calling for a system of codes for beaches, piers and other coastal locations to help emergency services identify locations quickly and accurately. I’m delighted that, working with the Council’s Environment Section and Beach Team, the idea has now become a reality with the development of the Coastal Location Code," said Carr.

The pilot scheme will be launched at Narin Beach on Thursday, 24 August 2026, at 2pm, and everyone is welcome to attend.

"This is a great initiative with the potential to help save lives, starting here in Donegal, and hopefully one day rolling out nationally," concluded Carr.