| Coimisinéirí Soilse na hÉireann | |
 | |
| Predecessor |
|
|---|---|
| Formation | 1867 |
| Type | Statutory corporation |
| Purpose | General lighthouse authority |
| Headquarters | Dún Laoghaire, Ireland |
| Services | Navigational aids |
| Key people | David Delamer, Chairperson Yvonne Shields, Chief executive |
| Website | www |
The Commissioners of Irish Lights (Irish: Coimisinéirí Soilse na hÉireann), often shortened to Irish Lights or CIL, is the body that serves as the general lighthouse authority for Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and their adjacent seas and islands. As the lighthouse authority for the island of Ireland 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 paid by ships calling at ports in the Republic of Ireland, pooled with dues raised similarly in the United Kingdom. This recognises that a large volume of shipping, typically transatlantic, relies on the lights provided by Irish Lights.
History
Signal fires to guide shipping have long existed. Hook Head has the oldest nearly continuous light in Ireland, originally a signal fire or beacon tended by the monk Dubhán 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, some replacing older lighthouses, at Hook Head, Baily Lighthouse at Howth Head, Howth sand-bar, Old Head of Kinsale, Barry Oge's castle (now Charlesfort, near Kinsale), and the Isle of Magee.
In 1704 Queen Anne transferred the lighthouses around the Irish coast to the Revenue Commissioners.
United Kingdom legislation
| Dublin Port Act 1786 | |
|---|---|
| Act of Parliament | |
 Parliament of Ireland | |
| Citation | 26 Geo. 3. c. 19 (I) |
| Territorial extent | Kingdom of Ireland |
| Status: Amended | |
The Corporation for Preserving and Improving the Port of Dublin was established under an act of the Parliament of Ireland, the Dublin Port Act 1786 (26 Geo. 3. c. 19 (I)), entitled An Act for Promoting the Trade of Dublin, by rendering its Port and Harbour more commodious.
United Kingdom legislation
| Lighthouses (Ireland) Act 1810 | |
|---|---|
| Act of Parliament | |
 Parliament of the United Kingdom | |
| Long title | An act to enable the Corporation for preserving and improving the Port of Dublin, to erect, repair and maintain Light Houses round the Coasts of Ireland, and to raise a Fund for defraying the Charge thereof. |
| Citation | 50 Geo. 3. c. 95 |
| Territorial extent | Ireland |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 15 June 1810 |
| Repealed | 1 May 1855 |
| Other legislation | |
| Repealed by | Merchant Shipping Repeal Act 1854 |
| Status: Repealed | |
| Irish Lighthouses Act 1811 | |
|---|---|
| Act of Parliament | |
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | |
| Long title | An Act to amend and render more effectual several Acts for promoting the Trade of Dublin, by rendering its Port and Harbour more commodious: and for erecting, repairing and maintaining Light Houses round the Coast of Ireland, and to raise a Fund for defraying the Charge thereof. |
| Citation | 51 Geo. 3. c. 66 |
| Territorial extent | Ireland |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 10 June 1811 |
| Other legislation | |
| Amended by | Merchant Shipping Repeal Act 1854 |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
| Dublin Port Act 1867 | |
|---|---|
| Act of Parliament | |
 Parliament of the United Kingdom | |
| Long title | An Act to alter the Constitution of the Corporation for preserving and improving the Port of Dublin, and for other Purposes connected with that Body and with the Port of Dublin Corporation. |
| Citation | 30 & 31 Vict. c. lxxxi |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 17 June 1867 |
| Status: Amended | |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
The Lighthouses (Ireland) Act 1810 (50 Geo. 3. c. 95) transferred responsibility for all lighthouses around Ireland's coast to the Port of Dublin Corporation, with the lighthouse operation becoming known as the 'Irish Lights Board'. The Dublin Port Act 1867 (30 & 31 Vict. c. lxxxi) reconstituted the Port of Dublin Corporation into the Dublin Port and Docks Board with responsibility purely for the port, and created the new 'Commissioners of Irish Lights' to act as the general lighthouse authority.
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 to a purpose-built new building in Harbour Road, Dún Laoghaire.
Ships
Granuaile III
The commissioners currently have only one light tender in service named ILV Granuaile. The hull was built at Galați shipyard, Romania, in 2000 and fitted out at Damen Shipyards in the Netherlands. She is registered in Dublin and has a 2,625 gross tonnage (GT), 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 Northern Ireland fly the Blue Ensign defaced with the commissioners' badge and those in the Republic fly the Irish tricolour.
Infrastructure
Main article: List of lighthouses in IrelandThe CIL operate and maintain the majority of the aids to navigation around the Irish coastline. This includes 64 lighthouses, 20 beacons and over 100 buoys. It also operates more than 100 automatic identification system transmitters, and 23 radar beacons.
See also
References
- "History". Hook Head. Commissioners of Irish Lights. Archived from the original on 15 July 2015. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
- Leach, Nicholas (2005). The Lifeboat Service in Ireland. Tempus Publishing. p. 13. ISBN 0-7524-3509-4.
- "Electronic Irish Statute Book (EISB)". Archived from the original on 24 October 2020. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
- "Constitution". About CIL. Commissioners of Irish Lights. Archived from the original on 15 July 2015. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
- "Ships in the Irish Lighthouse Service". Commissioners of Irish Lights. Archived from the original on 21 May 2015. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
- "ILV Granuaile" (PDF). Commissioners of Irish Lights. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
- ^ Grieve, Martin; Miles Li; Jarig Bakker; Rob Raeside (19 July 2008). "Commissioner of Irish Lights". Flags of the World. Archived from the original on 17 September 2011. Retrieved 27 April 2011.
- Dillon, Jim (1995). "The Evolution of Maritime Uniform". Beam. 24. Commissioners of Irish Lights. Archived from the original on 13 October 2013. Retrieved 27 April 2011.
In the Lighthouse Service the cap badge originally was a St George's Cross surrounded by a wreath of laurel leaves but from 1970 the St Patrick's Cross has been used.
- "Aids to Navigation". Commissioners of Irish Lights. Archived from the original on 29 June 2020. Retrieved 4 August 2020.