A MAN who escaped death in a near drowning tragedy has welcomed a new initiative that will help to save lives.
Donegal will be the first county in Ireland to benefit from the innovation.
Brian Carr, from Glenties, had to be rescued last August in waters between Ardara and Narin.
The worried father got into difficulty while trying to rescue his son and niece when they were at risk of being swept out to sea by strong currents.
Brian, who is a Donegal County councillor in Glenties, has since encouraged creation of measures to improve coastal rescue missions.
Cllr Carr described it as an “important initiative that will save lives”.
He also revealed that Donegal is to be the first county nationwide to have from the innovation.
Donegal Cllr Brian Carr got into difficulty in waters between Ardara and Narin in August 2025.
He said: “Following the serious incident involving myself and my family on August 15, 2025, I brought a motion to Donegal County Council calling for measures to improve the speed and accuracy of identifying coastal locations during emergencies.
“The Council’s Environment Section and Beach Team have since developed the Coastal Location Code.
“The pilot scheme will be officially launched at Narin Beach on Thursday, August 24.”
He added: “This is an important initiative that will save lives and, starting in Donegal, could be rolled out nationally.”
Brian was at Tramore Beach (main picture) a year ago with his wife Marie and their son Ben, who was nine years old at the time, plus niece Amelia, now 11.
The children went for a swim but had been pulled out to sea and Brian ran to their rescue.
His life and the lives of the children were saved thanks to the bravery of four men and the Rescue 118 helicopter, it was claimed.
Cllr Brian Carr received treatment from emergenncy rescue services. Photo Brian Carr.
Brian was later removed from the beach to recover at Letterkenny University Hospital, where he praised the heroes.
Maitiú Clerkin, Dualta Bracken, Turlough McDaid, and Joe Herron ran to help and pulled them to safety from the water.
Speaking at the time, Maitiú told RTE that the alarm was raised when he heard a woman screaming for help.
He said: “I could see there were two kids out in the water. Me and Dualta had our boards, so I started paddling out towards the two kids and got them.
“You couldn’t really see Brian in difficulty from the shore so I pointed at him and Dualta started making his way towards Brian.”
“I went to the girl first. Fair play to them, they were so brave. They had been swept out and were just treading water.
“The girl had a body board, which was helping her, but the little boy had nothing. I think he had only started swimming lessons not long before.
“They were amazing, treading water so well. They stayed so calm.”
Four men (Maitiú Clerkin, Dualta Bracken, Turlough McDaid and Joe Herron) were hailed as heroes after saving the lives of Cllr Brian Carr and his two young children a Donegal beach.
He explained that it was “critical” to reach Cllr Carr in time because he had swallowed water.
He added: “Once we got Brian, I expected that he’d be able to carry himself in the rest of the way, but that wasn’t the case at all.
“We genuinely needed all the manpower we could get to bring Brian in to dry sand.”
Cllr Carr said at the time that he wants the four men to be rewarded for their bravery and heroism.