Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 19 July 2016
321. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the number of applicants for beach lifeguard positions who failed the initial tests; if they were all informed in time regarding the retest; his views on whether an organisation (details supplied) should not be examining its own members. [22121/16]
View answerMy Department has been advised by Irish Water Safety that they train and certify approximately 5,000 lifeguards each year to best international practice and that their certification processes are designed to be fair, transparent and equal for all candidates. These qualifications are listed on the equivalency and recognition tables of the International Life Saving Federation at; http://www.ilsf.org/certification/equivalency-tables.
Some 450 lifeguards are employed by local authorities during the summer bathing season. Irish Water Safety tests several hundred qualified lifeguards around the country on behalf of those local authorities employing lifeguards at beaches, rivers or lakes.
Candidates undergo pool-based water and Basic Life Support tests, and all candidates who achieve a pass mark in both disciplines are listed in order of merit for each local authority area.
An Irish Water Safety Examiner from a county other than the local authority where the candidates are being examined, oversees these examinations. The list of applicants who have failed is compiled by Irish Water Safety and that list is sent to each Local Authority. The Water Safety Development Officer or HR Department in each relevant Local Authority would inform candidates if they have failed and when the re-test takes place.
The list of qualifying candidates is sent to each local authority for final selection and appointment of the lifeguards required by the local authority. Under section 159 of the Local Government Act 2001, each Chief Executive is responsible for the staffing and organisational arrangements necessary for carrying out the functions of the local authority for which he or she is responsible.
