A 19-YEAR-old Skibbereen man, who rescued a man in distress at the cliffs in Baltimore, was honoured at the National Bravery Awards last week.

Naoise Quinn, a second-year architecture technology student at MTU, attended a ceremony in Leinster House in the company of his parents Kay and David and his sister Aoife, who had flown in from Dubai.

Naoise was awarded a bronze medal and certificate of bravery for his actions at Baltimore on September 3rd 2024 by the Ceann Comhairle, Verona Murphy.

Naoise told The Southern Star: ‘It was lovely to be around so many other people who risked their lives to help others. Being recognised for what I did was very special especially in the company of my parents and my sister.’

Naoise had been walking with a friend, Ailíse O’Sullivan, near the Beacon cliffs when they encountered a man who asked them to mind his phone and keys and then tried to jump off the cliff.

‘Naoise ran at the man and tackled him to the ground to prevent him from jumping and held onto him. They attempted to calm him down and talked to him for a while to reassure him before walking with him down towards his van,’ noted his award citation.

On the way down, the man managed to get free of Naoise’s grip and again attempted to jump.

Naoise ran after him and grabbed hold of his shirt to pull him back up, but the man continued to struggle and Naoise had to grab his belt to stop him falling.

Ailíse rang the gardaí and helped Naoise pull the man back onto the grass, where they managed to hold him and limit his movement.

Naoise was one of the three Cork people honoured at the ceremony.

A gold award was posthumously presented to Callaghan ‘Cally’ O’Keeffe’s family from Fermoy.

The 90-year-old retired teacher died on October 8th 2024 when he saved a woman by pushing her from the path of an oncoming car.

Michael Collins was awarded a bronze medal and a Certificate of Bravery after he rescued a woman from the water at Roovesbridge at Coachford on January 20th of this year.

Last month, Naoise and Ailíse were recognised at the Garda National Youth Awards held in Portlaoise, and earlier this year at the West Cork Garda Youth Awards, for their heroic actions.