The Commissioners of Irish Lights ( ga, Coimisinéirí Soilse na hÉireann), often shortened to Irish Lights or CIL, is the body that serves as the general lighthouse authority for

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...

and the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. ...

and their adjacent seas and

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An isla ...

s. As the

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Lighthouses m ...

authority for the island of

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

it oversees the coastal lights and navigation marks provided by the local lighthouse authorities, the county councils and port authorities. It is funded by

light dues Light dues are the charges levied on ships for the maintenance of lighthouses and other aids to navigation. British Isles Light dues are levied on commercial vessels and larger pleasure boats calling at ports in the British Isles and paid into th ...

paid by ships calling at ports in the

, pooled with dues raised similarly in the United Kingdom. This recognizes that a large volume of shipping, typically

transatlantic Transatlantic, Trans-Atlantic or TransAtlantic may refer to: Film * Transatlantic Pictures, a film production company from 1948 to 1950 * Transatlantic Enterprises, an American production company in the late 1970s * ''Transatlantic'' (1931 film) ...

, relies on the lights provided by Irish Lights.

History

Signal fires to guide shipping have long existed.

Hook Head Hook Head (), historically called Rindowan, is a headland in County Wexford, Ireland, on the east side of the estuary of The Three Sisters (Rivers Nore, Suir and Barrow). It is part of the Hook peninsula and is adjacent to the historic townla ...

has the oldest nearly continuous light in Ireland, originally a signal fire or beacon tended by the monk

Dubhán Dubhán was a 5th-century Brittonic priest and pilgrim, for whom Hook Head (originally ''Rinn Dubháin'') is named. Hagiography According to tradition, Dubhán came from Wales to Ireland in 452 AD along with a group of his followers. Numerous ...

in the fifth century. Monks continued to maintain the light until the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland in 1641. King Charles II re-established the lighthouse in 1667. He granted a patent for the erection of six lighthouses to

Robert Reading Sir Robert Reading, first and last Baronet Reading, (c. 1640 – c. March 1689) built several privately owned lighthouses in Ireland under letters patent from Charles II of England. He was educated at Christ Church, Oxford, receiving a BA i ...

, some replacing older lighthouses, at

, Baily Lighthouse at

Howth Head Howth Head ( ; ''Ceann Bhinn Éadair'' in Irish) is a peninsula northeast of the city of Dublin in Ireland, within the governance of Fingal County Council. Entry to the headland is at Sutton while the village of Howth and the harbour are o ...

, Howth sand-bar, Old Head of Kinsale, Barry Oge's castle (now

Charlesfort The Charlesfort-Santa Elena Site is an important early colonial archaeological site on Parris Island, South Carolina. It contains the archaeological remains of a French settlement called Charlesfort, settled in 1562 and abandoned the following y ...

, near

Kinsale Kinsale ( ; ) is a historic port and fishing town in County Cork, Ireland. Located approximately south of Cork City on the southeast coast near the Old Head of Kinsale, it sits at the mouth of the River Bandon, and has a population of 5,281 (a ...

), and the Isle of Magee. In 1704 Queen Anne transferred the lighthouses around the Irish coast to the Revenue Commissioners. The Commissioners of Irish Lights were established under an Act of the

Parliament of Ireland The Parliament of Ireland ( ga, Parlaimint na hÉireann) was the legislature of the Lordship of Ireland, and later the Kingdom of Ireland, from 1297 until 1800. It was modelled on the Parliament of England and from 1537 comprised two cham ...

passed in 1786 and entitled ''An Act for Promoting the Trade of Dublin, by rendering its Port and Harbour more commodious'' (26 Geo. III, c. xix). Lighthouses were not included until an 1810 Act of the Parliament of the

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was a sovereign state in the British Isles that existed between 1801 and 1922, when it included all of Ireland. It was established by the Acts of Union 1800, which merged the Kingdom of Grea ...

. These Acts, modified by the Irish Lights Commissioners (Adaptation) Order, 1935, remain the legislative basis for the CIL. Irish Lights has moved its headquarters from

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

to a purpose-built new building in Harbour Road,

Dún Laoghaire Dún Laoghaire ( , ) is a suburban coastal town in Dublin in Ireland. It is the administrative centre of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown. The town was built following the 1816 legislation that allowed the building of a major port to serve Dubli ...

Ships

''Granuaile III''

The commissioners currently have only one light tender in service named . The hull was built at

Galați shipyard __NOTOC__ The Galați shipyard ( ro, Șantierul naval Galați), formally Damen Shipyards Galați, is a shipyard located on the Danube in Galați, a city located in the Moldavia region of Romania. History Origins through communism Shipbuilding is ...

, Romania, in 2000 and fitted out at

Damen Shipyards The Damen Group is a Dutch defence, shipbuilding, and engineering conglomerate company based in Gorinchem, Netherlands. Though it is a major international group doing business in 120 countries, it remains a private family-owned company. Dame ...

in the Netherlands. She is registered in

and has a , has a length overall of 79.6 metres (261') and a beam of 15.99 metres (52'6"). She is the third vessel named Granuaile to have served the Commissioners. ''Granuaile II'' was in service between 1970 and 2000, and she was preceded by the first ''Granuaile'' from 1948 to 1970. Because of the automation of lighthouses, and the extensive use of helicopters by the Commissioners, CIL now need only one tender in service. The ship has diesel-electric propulsion and is extremely manoeuvrable, and is therefore ideal for her role in maintaining the automatic navigation buoys in Irish waters. In 2003 she was involved in the recovery of the fishing boat ''Pisces'', which sank off Fethard, County Wexford, in July 2002.

Other vessels

*''Princess Alexandra'' (1863–1904) *''Tearaght'' (1892–1928) – see Kingstown Lifeboat Disaster *''Moya'' (1893–1905) *''Ierne'' (1898–1954) *''Alexandra'' (1904–1955) *''Deirdre'' (1919–1927) *''Nabro'' (1926–1949) *''Isolda'' (1928–1940) (Sunk off the Saltee Islands County Wexford by German aircraft) *''Discovery II'' (1947–1948) *''Valonia'' (1947–1962) *''Granuaile'' (1948–1970) *''Blaskbeg'' (1953–1955) *''Isolda'' (1953–1976) *''Ierne II'' (1955–1971) *''Atlanta'' (1959–1988) *''Granuaile II'' (1970–2000) *''Gray Seal'' (1988–1994)

Flags

The Commissioners of Irish Lights is a cross-border body, with its headquarters in Dublin. The current flag of the Irish Lights features lightships and lighthouses between the arms of the St. Patrick's Cross. The St. George's Cross was used until 1970. CIL vessels in

fly the

Blue Ensign The Blue Ensign is a flag, one of several British ensigns, used by certain organisations or territories associated or formerly associated with the United Kingdom. It is used either plain or defaced with a badge or other emblem. The ev ...

defaced with the Commissioner's badge and those in the Republic fly the

Irish tricolour The national flag of Ireland ( ga, bratach na hÉireann), frequently referred to in Ireland as 'the tricolour' () and elsewhere as the Irish tricolour is a vertical tricolour of green (at the hoist), white and orange. The proportions of the ...

Infrastructure

The CIL operate and maintain the majority of the

aids to navigation Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ma ...

around the Irish coastline. This includes 66 lighthouses, 20 beacons and over 100 buoys. It also operates more than 100 automatic identification system transmitters, and 24 radar beacons.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Commissioners Of Irish Lights 1786 establishments in Ireland * * Lighthouse organizations Dún Laoghaire Water transport in Ireland All-Ireland organisations Department for Transport