Commissioners of Irish Lights

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.

Irish Lights is funded through light dues paid into the General Lighthouse Fund (GLF) by ships calling both in Ireland (including the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland) and in Great Britain. The General Lighthouse Fund is managed by the Secretary of State for Transport in the United Kingdom and is split between the three General Lighthouse Authorities.^[1][2]

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.^[3] Monks continued to maintain the light until the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland in 1641.

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,^[4] 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.

The Corporation for Preserving and Improving the Port of Dublin was established under the Dublin Port Act 1786, an act of the Parliament of Ireland.^[5]

The Lighthouses (Ireland) Act 1810^[6] 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^[7] reconstituted the Port of Dublin Corporation into the Dublin Port and Docks Board with responsibility purely for the port, and created the Commissioners of Irish Lights to act as the general lighthouse authority.

These acts, modified by the Irish Lights Commissioners (Adaptation) Order 1935,^[8] remain the legislative basis for the CIL.^[9]

Irish Lights has moved its headquarters from Dublin to a purpose-built new building in Harbour Road, Dún Laoghaire.

Handover of responsibility to the Foyle, Carlingford and Irish Lights Commission as envisioned by the 1998 Good Friday Agreement has not occurred.

Ships

Granuaile III

Because of the automation of lighthouses, and the use of helicopters, CIL now only operates one vessel, ILV Granuaile III (ILV=Irish Lights Vessel), named after the pirate queen Grace O'Malley.^[10] Delivered in 2000, she was built at Galați shipyard, Romania, fitted out at Damen Shipyards in the Netherlands.^[11] She has a >, length of 79.69 metres (261.5 ft) and is fitted with Class I dynamic positioning system. In 2003 she was involved in the recovery of the fishing boat Pisces, which sank off Fethard, County Wexford, in July 2002.^[12] She is the third Granuaile to have served with the CIL. The first Granuaile served from 1948 to 1970, followed by Granuaile II from 1970 and 2000.

Former 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), sold to Irish Naval Service, renamed LÉ Setanta
• 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.^[13] The St. George's Cross was used until 1970.^[14] CIL vessels in Northern Ireland fly the Blue Ensign defaced with the commissioners' badge and those in the Republic fly the Irish tricolour.^[13]

Infrastructure

The 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.^[15]

See also

• Lighthouses in Ireland
• Lightvessels in Ireland

Notes

1. ^ Start of session.

References

1. ^ "General Lighthouse Authorities' relationship with the Secretary of State for Transport". Gov.uk. 2017-06-29. Retrieved 2025-04-24.
2. ^ "Light Dues". Commissioners of Irish Lights. Retrieved 2025-04-24.
3. ^ "History". Hook Head. Commissioners of Irish Lights. Archived 15 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
4. ^ Leach, Nicholas (2005). The Lifeboat Service in Ireland. Tempus Publishing. p. 13. ISBN 0-7524-3509-4.
5. ^ 26 Geo. 3. c. 19 (I), entitled An Act for Promoting the Trade of Dublin, by rendering its Port and Harbour more commodious.
6. ^ 50 Geo. 3. c. 95
7. ^ 30 & 31 Vict. c. lxxxi
8. ^ "Irish Lights Commissioners (Adaptation) Order 1935" (sro). 13 December 1935. Archived 24 October 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
9. ^ "Our History". Commissioners of Irish Lights. Archived 15 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
10. ^ "ILV Granuaile". Commissioners of Irish Lights. Retrieved 16 June 2025.
11. ^ "GRANUAILE, IMO 9192947". Baltic Shipping. Retrieved 16 June 2025.
12. ^ "Recovery operation to get under way off the Wexford coast this afternoon". South East Radio. 28 September 2003. Retrieved 16 June 2025.
13. ^ Grieve, Martin; Miles Li; Jarig Bakker; Rob Raeside (19 July 2008). "Commissioner of Irish Lights". Flags of the World. Archived 17 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 27 April 2011.
14. ^ 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.
15. ^ "Aids to Navigation". Commissioners of Irish Lights. Archived 29 June 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 4 August 2020.