2013 was one of the busiest years on record for the Irish coastguard.

The fleet registered a 33% increase in call-outs, largely due to the fine summer weather.

The figures have been released as the coastguard launches its new €40 million state of the art S92 helicopter for the Dublin region.

Declan Geoghegan is Operations manager with the Irish Coastguard he says there were 2,627 call outs last year, a number of them were from jetski operators, something he is particularly concerned about:

Last year the Coastguard responded to a total of 250 aero-medical missions and 159 off-shore island medical evacuations .

Mr. Geoghegan says the new S92 helicopter - the service's fourth helicopter - is an important addition to their fleet, and can also be used to transport patients: