The €1.2 million boathouse will be open to the public from 11am this morning.

The volunteer service is asking people to take every safety precaution when they're heading out on water during the busy holiday season

Earlier on Saturday Lough Ree RNLI had joined with Athlone Sub Aqua Club and Athlone River Safety Awareness just upstream of the weir wall to demonstrate emergency response procedures to the public.

The local group says the cost of equipment and training is a significant annual expense.

The funding covers the cost of the new lifeboat station on the lake which is manned by a team of 46 volunteers.

The volunteer crew responded to three call-outs.

A fundraising campaign to help contribute for the new RNLI boathouse for Lough Ree has been relaunched in recent days after some events had to

Tributes are being paid to Tony McCarth, who is retiring as lifeboat operation manager at Lough Ree RNLI. Mr McCarth joined the busy RNLI station