Many oversees visitors paid the lifeboat a visit drawn from the U.K. , France , Denmark , Norway , Holland , the U.S. and Australia . The foreign visitors asked many questions regarding the funding of the lifeboat service and were especially interested in the voluntary aspect of the service with some of their own countries having similar search and rescue organisations.

As always a large number of young and enthusiastic children came aboard and enjoyed exploring the wheelhouse, engine room, survivors’ cabin and flying bridge. Lifeboat crew distributed balloons and other items to all children who visited.

It is surprising to think that a fishing port as busy as Castletownbere had no lifeboat service until 1997. Prior to that leisure and commercial craft in the area had to rely on the services of Valentia and Balitimore lifeboat stations. However, after many years of campaigning by locals, including Fundraising Secretary Mrs Sheila O’Driscoll, a lifeboat station was established in Castletownbere by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution  in October 1997. Since its inception, the Castletownbere Lifeboat has answered over 100 emergency calls to vessels or people in difficulty. The lifeboat has launched 22 times already in 2004.

 The station provides a 24 hour lifeboat service necessary to cover search and rescue requirements to 50 miles out from the coast. In the year 2003,  Irish lifeboats launched 867 times, saved 19 lives, landed 233 people, and brought ashore 860 people giving a total of  1,112  – an average of 92  people a  month.

  The crew are all volunteers and unlike other emergency services do not get paid for their services. Each lifeboat station however employs a full time mechanic and a small number of stations have appointed a full-time coxswain. Traditionally, the lifeboat crew was manned  by fishermen but this has changed dramatically in recent decades. With fishermen at sea earning a living, it is now necessary to draw crew from all walks of life,  and the Castletownbere crew is no different. Crews undergo training at three different levels – they have weekly training on board the lifeboat; crew members undergo specialised training at the newly opened Lifeboat College at Poole in the U.K. ; and the R.N.L.I. sends mobile Training  units to Castletownbere to train crew in specialised areas such as First Aid, Navigation, Radio Operation, etc.

Running the lifeboat service is an extremely expensive operation. In Ireland , the cost of running the service is currently  €15 million per annum. The Lifeboat fundraises on an ongoing basis and depends entirely on voluntary contributions for its income. For example, Castletownbere’s new lifeboat was paid for from a bequest from a Dublin lady, Mrs Annette Hutton, who had no connection with the sea but who greatly admired the voluntary ethos of the lifeboat service. For every €1.00 raised, the R.N.L.I. only spends three cent on administration – the greatest part  of funds raised is spend on maintaining and replacing the lifeboat fleet., Locally, the lifeboat fundraising is well supported through individual fundraising events and the weekly lotto run jointly with CoAction Beara. This lotto is very well supported locally and yields over €15,000 to each organisation.