Commissioners of Irish Lights
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The Commissioners of Irish Lights (Template:Langx), 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 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.
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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.
Ships
Granuaile III
Because of the automation of lighthouses, and the use of helicopters, CIL now only operate one vessel, the ILV Granuaile, named after the famous 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 Template:GT, length of Script error: No such module "convert". 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)
- Ierne II (1955–1971)
- Atlanta (1959–1988)
- Granuaile II (1970–2000)
- Gray Seal (1988–1994)
Flags
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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.[14] The St. George's Cross was used until 1970.[15] CIL vessels in Northern Ireland fly the Blue Ensign defaced with the commissioners' badge and those in the Republic fly the Irish tricolour.[14]
Infrastructure
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See also
References
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- ↑ 26 Geo. 3. c. 19 (I), entitled An Act for Promoting the Trade of Dublin, by rendering its Port and Harbour more commodious.
- ↑ 50 Geo. 3. c. 95
- ↑ 30 & 31 Vict. c. lxxxi
- ↑ Template:Cite ISB
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External links
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