Volunteer crews launch from 46 RNLI stations around the coast and on the big inland lakes. Here they are, oldest first, with the year a lifeboat first served each place. 18 of them were founded since 1980.
Placed by the Dublin Ballast Board in 1817 (as Kingstown); RNLI from 1862. On 24 December 1895 the No. 2 lifeboat capsized going to the barque Palme in Dublin Bay and all 15 lifeboatmen were lost.
Lifeboat first placed by the Corporation and Port of Dublin in 1817; management passed to the RNLI in 1862.
RNIPLS lifeboat from 1825, unfit for service by 1840; re-established by the RNLI in 1867.
The first lifeboat station in Ireland, according to its article: placed by the RNIPLS in 1826, closed 1830, re-established 1857.
First lifeboat placed by the RNIPLS (the RNLI under its earlier name) 1830–1833; re-established 1854. On 21 January 1942 the lifeboat rescued 39 people from the convoy steamship Browning, aground in a south-east gale near Ballyquintin; Coxswain Patrick Murphy received the RNLI Gold Medal.
RNIPLS lifeboat 1833–1838; re-established by the RNLI in 1855. Henry Alexander Hamilton, Chief Boatman, received the RNLI Gold Medal.
The 1838 station was at Rosslare Point (Rosslare Fort) and closed in 1927 after coastal erosion. The present station began as the independent Wexford Harbour Inshore Rescue and passed to the RNLI in 2002. Crew members William Duggan and James Wickham received a specially struck gold medal from the GAA for the 1914 Mexico rescue.
Lifeboat placed by the Youghal Harbour Trust in 1839; RNLI took over in 1857.
Lifeboat at Kilmore Coastguard Station from 1847 for 11 years; re-established 1884.
In February 1936 the lifeboat rescued the eight crew of the Daunt Rock lightship Comet, at sea for most of three days; Coxswain Patrick Sliney received the RNLI Gold Medal.
Began in 1859 as Dungarvan Lifeboat Station; all-weather lifeboat withdrawn 1969; re-established as an inshore station in 1997.
First stationed at Reenard Point on the mainland in 1864.
Station 1865–1925; reopened as an inshore lifeboat station in 1990.
Established 1879 as Tralee Bay Lifeboat Station.
On 7 December 1940 the lifeboat rescued 18 men from the Dutch steamer Stolwijk, aground east of Tory Island; Coxswain John Boyle received the RNLI Gold Medal.
Station 1886–1914. On 20 February 1914 the lifeboat went to the Norwegian schooner Mexico; nine of its crew drowned. Reopened with an inshore lifeboat in 1996.
Open 1896–1921, reopened 1927 when the Rosslare Point station was abandoned.
Took over operations from Drogheda No. 1 in 1899.
Established 1927 on Inishmore as Galway Bay Lifeboat Station.
Run by Bundoran Inshore Rescue from 1972; RNLI from 1992.
Two stations on the Mullet Peninsula. Diver Michael Heffernan died in a 1997 cave rescue there; the State's Michael Heffernan Medal for Marine Gallantry is named after him.
Article lead says 1998; its infobox says first lifeboat 1997.
Inland station on Lower Lough Erne; opened as Enniskillen (Lower), renamed 2017.
Inland station on the Erne; opened as Enniskillen (Upper), renamed 2017.
Its Atlantic 85 has the longest name in the RNLI fleet, according to its article.
Inland station on the Shannon, at Dromineer.
Inland station on the Shannon, at Coosan Point.
Wikipedia's list of RNLI stations gives 46 in the Ireland region, covering the Republic and Northern Ireland, in 17 counties. 4 are inland, on Lough Derg, Lough Ree and the Erne.
It depends on what counts. Howth and Dún Laoghaire had lifeboats from 1817, placed by the Dublin port authority and handed to the RNLI in 1862. Of RNLI-founded stations, the articles give Courtmacsherry 1825 and Arklow 1826 (both under the RNIPLS, the RNLI's earlier name), though Arklow's article calls it the first in Ireland. Both lapsed and were re-established later.
Yes. The RNLI is a registered charity in both the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, and its Ireland region covers the whole island.
The stations in the Ireland Region section of Wikipedia's list of RNLI stations, with years from the lead of each station's own article. "First lifeboat" counts boats placed by the RNLI's predecessor (the RNIPLS) and by local bodies such as the Dublin Ballast Board; "present station" is when the current station was re-established or taken over by the RNLI. Notes on rescues cover only the best-known services the articles describe, not each station's full record. Stations that have closed for good are not listed.