Donegal Mountain Rescue has warned it may have to turn down emergency call-outs – after its funding was slashed.
The voluntary organisation has had its government funding cut by 62%.
It costs up to €45,000 annually to run the service, which received 74 call-outs last year- its busiest since it was formed in 1984.
Team leader Joe Pond said members called out may now have to pay out of their own pockets for the service.
“It’s now looking like we won’t have the resources to turn out this winter. We’ll have to raise about €30,000 through voluntary donations.
“What it means is that, if we get a call-out and have to put diesel in a vehicle, the members will have to pay for that out of their own pocket,” he revealed.
During last winter the group assisted the sick and elderly in the most isolated areas of Donegal cut off by the snow.
It also assisted in the rescue of more than 200 people who became stuck in their vehicles on the treacherous Glenshane Pass during heavy snow.
They also supported nurse visits, transported patients to hospitals and nursing homes and supplied food and medicine.
The team was a major part of the successful search for missing American hill-walker Kelly Jones who was found after being missing for more than four days in Glencolmcille.
Each call out took an average of five hours to complete.
Mr Pond said the increase in visitors coming hill walking in the county had increased the demands on the service.
He also suggested that the army, civil defence and Irish coastguard could be used more to take the pressure off mountain rescue.
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