Five people were taken ashore last night following reports of a dolphin causing some difficulty for swimmers in the Galway area.

A member of the public raised the alarm and contacted the Irish Coastguard to alert them to the incident off Blackrock Tower in Salthill yesterday evening.

The Galway RNLI lifeboat launched and arrived at the scene at around 7.30pm -where a local fishing vessel had separated the dolphin from the swimmers.

It's understood the swimmers were very shocked but did not require medical attention.

Galway RNLI Lifeboat Helmsman, Ciaran Oliver, attended the scene.