21/07/2016

More Than 10,000 People Rescued By Naval Service Since May 2015

More than 10,000 people have been rescued by the Irish Naval Service since it was first deployed on a humanitarian operation in the Mediterranean in May 2015.

A total of 8,592 people were rescued by Irish Naval vessels in the Mediterranean between May and November last year. The L.É. Róisín, which was deployed on 01 May this year and has rescued a total of 1,264 people.

L.É. James Joyce, which replaced L.É. Róisín, commenced operations in the region on 16 July. Following the rescue of 162 people on 19 July, L.É. James Joyce rescued a further 63 people on Wednesday, 20 July.

This brings the total number of migrants rescued by the Naval Service to date to 10,081.

Since Irish Naval vessels have began their operations, the ships have provided assistance to a further 2,209 migrants, who were transferred from other vessels onto Irish Naval Service vessels and then transited to safety.

The Minister with Responsibility for Defence, Paul Kehoe, said: "I wish to congratulate the Naval Service for the excellent role they have played in saving the lives of so many migrants since Naval Service vessels were first deployed in May 2015. The Government and I are very proud of your efforts.

"The deployment of Irish Naval vessels to the Mediterranean to engage in humanitarian search and rescue tasks is an important element in Ireland's response to the migration crisis in the Mediterranean. The success of these operations demonstrates clearly the value of Ireland's participation in this important work."

(MH/LM)

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