120 children rescued in Dun Laoghaire

**joeSoap** · 05/07/2007, 3:14 PM

Thank God. It could have been a major disaster

**Aberdonian Stu** · 05/07/2007, 3:24 PM

Hmm I'll wait for the full details to emerge before I go rushing to judgements. If it's in the area of the harbour this might be a much smaller deal than is being reported.

The numbers being bandied about definitely can't be trusted just yet, it was 91 in other reports and usually these types of differences in figures like indicate that a large chunk of the details are not clear yet.

EDIT: Joe, that's a seriously ugly spelling of my hometown.

EDITx2: And I wish RTE would stop putting the fada on the u. I'm a fluent Gaelg�ir but I hate it when people call it D�n Laoghaire, it's Dun Laoghaire.

**dahamsta** · 05/07/2007, 4:14 PM

Even Google knows how to spell it properly.

**pineapple stu** · 05/07/2007, 6:22 PM

Originally Posted by Aberdonian Stu

EDITx2: And I wish RTE would stop putting the fada on the u. I'm a fluent Gaelg�ir but I hate it when people call it D�n Laoghaire, it's Dun Laoghaire.

Not on any street sign I've seen. The fada belongs there; let it stay there.

About 40 ambulances, fire brigades, motorcycles, response vehicles and garda cars passed by where I work this afternoon. Was wondering what the hell was going on. You need one ambulance per casualty though, so it appears it was all precautionary.

**Saint Tom** · 05/07/2007, 9:51 PM

somebody think of the children

what were they doing sailing in adverse conditions anyway? im in no way an afficianado of that particular sport but if it were not such a plummy sport would it be newsworthy??

**pineapple stu** · 05/07/2007, 9:59 PM

100 children's lives at threat? 40 rescus vehicles - a major operation - deployed? Of course it's newsworthy.

Can't sail without a bit of wind. They just got hit by a freak gust.

**onceahoop** · 05/07/2007, 10:28 PM

Was there not a small craft weather warning. Thought I heard something on the news to that effect.

**Aberdonian Stu** · 05/07/2007, 10:53 PM

The English language versions of the street signs differ with you pineapple! I'm all for bilingualism but the Irish language version of the name has taken on a added meaning in the media, in particular RTE and that's why I've stopped using it even when I speak Irish.

**pineapple stu** · 05/07/2007, 11:41 PM

There are no English language street signs. There's never a translation, which is only the case in modern housing estates or in place names which are Irish to begin with. Hence, a fada.

Anyways, back on topic.

**Macy** · 06/07/2007, 7:38 AM

Dun Laoghaire/ D�n Laoghaire/ Kingstown who really cares?

It seemed a bit mad that they were out there alright, until I saw how quick the wind got up in our neck of the woods last night. It was fine with a bit of breeze, and then suddenly it was gale force winds. Be fairly easy to get caught out by it.

**Dodge** · 06/07/2007, 7:41 AM

True but still think its a bit odd they are continuing the race today...

**noby** · 06/07/2007, 7:48 AM

Originally Posted by onceahoop

Was there not a small craft weather warning. Thought I heard something on the news to that effect.

There's been a small craft warning nearly every day for the last month. There is a gale warning today for the Irish sea though, and possibly yesterday, which might question the decision to hold the regatta.

On the other hand, and for a little balance on the '14 boats capsize' headlines: dinghys capsize. That's what they do. In your first lesson you'll be capsized and shown how to right the boat. I'm glad everyone's ok though, if a little wet and cold, and knocked about a bit.

**drummerboy** · 06/07/2007, 8:28 AM

The kids were about a mile out from the coastline and spread out about the same distance. Have to say, it could have really been a disaster. The scale of the recovery operation was massive, which is good to know.

**OneRedArmy** · 06/07/2007, 10:01 AM

Originally Posted by drummerboy

The scale of the recovery operation was massive, which is good to know.

I object to my tax money being spent rescuing a bunch of kids who were severely put at risk by a bunch of clowns in deck shoes and blazers.

The Commodore (or whatever his name is) of the Royal St George's Yacht club defended the decision to go ahead with the regatta yesterday by citing how well the rescue went.

Fine, you and the rest of your mates pay for the 2 helicopters, Naval ship and ribs, 3 lifeboats, merchant ships and 30 (count'em) ambulances that were deployed, not to mention all the medical and ancilliary costs of having to swing the Dublin Area Major Emergency Plan into action.

Knob jockeys...

**drummerboy** · 06/07/2007, 10:04 AM

Originally Posted by OneRedArmy

I object to my tax money being spent rescuing a bunch of kids who were severely put at risk by a bunch of clowns in deck shoes and blazers.

The Commodore (or whatever his name is) of the Royal St George's Yacht club defended the decision to go ahead with the regatta yesterday by citing how well the rescue went.

Fine, you and the rest of your mates pay for the 2 helicopters, Naval ship and ribs, 3 lifeboats, merchant ships and 30 (count'em) ambulances that were deployed, not to mention all the medical and ancilliary costs of having to swing the Dublin Area Major Emergency Plan into action.

Knob jockeys...

Would you have left them to their own devices.

**Aberdonian Stu** · 06/07/2007, 10:04 AM

Agree with most of what OneRedArmy said save for the Knob Jockeys comment (seemed to take a bit of lustre off it).

Back off topic and most street signs are bilingual.

**Erstwhile B�z** · 06/07/2007, 10:51 AM

Originally Posted by Aberdonian Stu

The English language versions of the street signs differ with you pineapple! I'm all for bilingualism but the Irish language version of the name has taken on a added meaning in the media, in particular RTE and that's why I've stopped using it even when I speak Irish.

There is no word 'dun' in Irish and 'laoghaire' does not make any relevant sound according to the rules of English spelling. So although "Dun Laoghaire" is, as you imply, not an Irish-language version, the whole truth is that it is a no-language version. In Irish the spelling is D�n Laoghaire, and that is that (the political reasons for its adoption as the official name of the town and even the semipoliticolinguistic reasons for retaining the medial -gh- in defiance of the modern rules of Irish orthography are neither here nor there). "Dun Laoghaire" is nothing more than a lazy misspelling of D�n Laoghaire, of which even official sources in the Free State, granted, were guilty. But it most definitely never had the contrasting effect you would claim for it, i.e. that it be pronounced differently from D�n Laoghaire.

The spelling Dunleary -- representing the current pronunciation* we are all familiar with, RT� newsreaders aside, and for which you seem so hot -- already exists and has existed as the name of an official administrative unit for over 150 years. It is the official name of the townland in which the town and harbour are situated (in the civil parish of Monkstown, barony of Rathdown) and as a spelling it follows exactly the orthographical conventions for the English transliteration of Irish placenames as laid down by the Ordnance Survey in the 1830s. In other words, it makes sense. It can be found on the original six-inch maps (sheet #23) as both the name of the townland and the small village a small distance from what was then Kingstown, as well as on various official documents to this day.

I presume what you mean, then, is that you pronounce the name of your home town "Dunleery", agreeing with the townland's official spelling, Dunleary, whether speaking English or Irish, and that you believe the Irish pronunciation "D�n Laoire", agreeing with the (fossilized) official spelling of the harbour town, D�n Laoghaire, is used only with nefarious intent.

It is a valid point, if a little paranoid, and I agree with you to a certain extent.

However, I don't see where the nonsense spelling "Dun Laoghaire" should come into your argument. Nor, for that matter, street signage, which takes a notoriously improvisational approach to the Irish language, particularly in areas such as D�n Laoghaire/Rathdown where the local authority refuse to take part in the free-of-charge scheme run by the Ordnance Survey of Ireland and the Placenames Branch to systematically tidy up the country's street names.

On topic, the teenagers (not children) who were interviewed after the DISASTER calmly pointed out that they were all relatively experienced sailors and it was in fact a competition; the novice children were never going to be taken out yesterday.

*actually the sound that this spelling was intended to represent would now be spelt Dunlairy, rhyming with 'Fun Mary', the pronunciation current amongst the peasantry at the time of the Survey. -ea- in a stressed position in the anglicized versions of Irish placenames laid down by the Survey is almost invariably meant to represent the long -�- sound which the head of Orthography knew to be the original force of that diphthong in the English language (cf. Roscrea/Ros Cr�, Slea Head/Ceann Sl�ibhe, Keady/An C�ide, Coolea/C�il Aodha, etc.; bear, wear, tear, great, etc. (Eng.)). Happily, the modern-day anglicized pronunciation of the town agrees with the modern-day sounding of -ea-; a small celebration of universal literacy and the attendant br�ag-ghal�ntacht and �ir� in airde of the formerly more traditional peasantry.

**monutdfc** · 06/07/2007, 11:13 AM

Originally Posted by pineapple stu

Can't sail without a bit of wind. They just got hit by a freak gust.

There was noting freakish about it, despite what one of the parents is quoted as saying. Met Eireann had forecast that the wind was going to rise. Anybody who sails will check the forecast before they go out. It was downright irresponsible of whoever let those kids go out with the forecast as it was, they should be charged with a criminal offence.