Chief Executive of Water Safety Ireland Retires

25th February 2022

John Leech had been CEO of Water Safety Ireland for 21 years

The Chief Executive of Water Safety Ireland, the State organisation headquartered in Galway, has retired. John Leech had been CEO for 21 years.

“When I joined the organisation the 10-year annual average of fatal drownings was 185, today it is 115 and thankfully the trend is downward,” he said on announcing is retirement.

“Our membership was less than 1,000 whilst today it is over 5,500. In terms of lifesaving sport we had two weekends of sport each year. We now have 22 or 23 competitions each year and we had no vehicles, boats craft or buildings, WSI now has lots of equipment, boats, buildings, vehicles now to enable it to run training programmes and sports competitions.”

Before joining Water Safety Ireland he had served with the Navy as a Lt.Commander and was involved in developing the Naval Service Diving Unit.

Water Safety Ireland is a statutory, voluntary body and registered charity established to promote water safety and reduce drownings in Ireland.

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