A hoax emergency call made from a boat off Clifden in August cost the Irish Coastguard €5000.

According to a spokesman for the Valentia coastguard, the operating base for most of the West Coast, the hoax call cost €5000 in helicopter fees alone, as a full call-out team had to be mobilised from the nearest base in Shannon.

Declan Geoghegan of the Valentia Coastguard told the Galway Independent that hoax callers to the coastguard are prosecuted if they can be traced, but that this can be difficult to do if the call is made by hand-held radio.

In 2006 there were eight drownings off the Co Galway coast, and there have been almost as many this year to date.

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