The major sea and shore search on Dublin Bay for a missing person has been called off after Dun Laoghaire lifeboat declared the alert a hoax.
The search operation was launched early this morning when a caller claimed to have seen a man walking into the sea at the 40-foot in Sandycove at about 4.30am.
Dun Laoghaire Lifeboat, the Irish Coastguard Helicopter from Dublin and the Dun Laoghaire Coastguard Unit all took part in the search.
Spokesperson David Brannigan said that the hoax put all their lives in danger.
“Every lifeboat crewmember in the RNLI sooner or later will come across a hoax call but this morning’s was particularly unusual in that we had a full gale force sea running with breaking waves.
“It was extremely life-threatening both for the lifeboat crew and for the shore party searching the shore so it was very unusual that we would have a hoax call that would put so many people’s life in danger,” he said.