Commissioners of Irish Lights

Commissioners of Irish Lights
Type Statutory Corporation
Industry Maritime Safety
Founded 1867
Headquarters Dún Laoghaire, Ireland
Key people John Kidney, Chairperson
Stuart Ruttle, Chief Executive
Website www.cil.ie

The Commissioners of Irish Lights (CIL) is the body that serves as the lighthouse authority for Ireland plus its adjacent seas and islands. As the Irish Lighthouse Authority it oversees the coastal lights and navigation marks provided by the local lighthouse authorities; the county councils and port authorities.

It is funded by ships that use the seas around Ireland pooled with dues raised by the United Kingdom. This recognises that a large volume of shipping, typically transatlantic, relies on the lights provided by the CIL but never puts in to its ports.

Contents

History

Signal fires to guide shipping have long existed. Hook Head is the oldest continuous (with some interruptions) light in Ireland, it was originally a signal fire or beacon tended by the monk Dubhán in the fifth century.[1] Monks continued to maintain the light until the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland in 1641.

King Charles II reestablished the lighthouse in 1657. He granted a patent for the erection of six lighthouses to Robert Reading, some replacing older lighthouses.[2] 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 Anne, Queen of Great Britain transferred the lighthouses around the Irish coast to the Revenue Commissioners.

The Commissioners of Irish Lights, or "CIL" was established under an Act of the Parliament of Ireland 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 the 1810 Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. These Acts, as confirmed by the Irish Lights Commissioners (Adaptation) Order, 1935 remains the legislative basis for the CIL.[3]

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

Finance

The services provided by the Commissioners are financed from the General Lighthouse Fund. The income of the General Lighthouse Fund is mainly derived from light dues charged on commercial shipping at ports in Ireland and the United Kingdom, (i.e. user pays) supplemented by an annual contribution from the Irish Government towards the cost of the service provided by the Commissioners in the Republic of Ireland.[4]

The General Lighthouse Fund is administered by the UK Department for Transport. It also finances:

  1. Trinity House Lighthouse Service – the General Lighthouse Authority for England, Wales and the Channel Islands;
  2. Northern Lighthouse Board – the General Lighthouse Authority for Scotland and the Isle of Man.

The accounts of the Commissioners of Irish Lights are consolidated with those of Trinity House Lighthouse Service and the Northern Lighthouse Board to form part of the General Lighthouse Fund annual accounts which are published in London by HMSO.

Ships

Granuaile III

The Commissioners currently have only one light tender[5] in service named ILV Granuaile. She was built at Galatz Shipyard, Romania, in 2000 and is registered in Dublin. She has a gross tonnage (GT) of 2625 tons, has a length overall of 79.6 m and a beam of 15.99 m. 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 ill-fated fishing boat "Pisces", which sank off Fethard, Co Wexford, in July 2002.

Other vessels

Flags

Commissioners of Irish Lights is a cross-border body, with its headquarters in Dublin. The current flag of the CIL features lightships and lighthouses between the arms of the St. Patrick's Cross.[6] The St. George's Cross was used until 1970.[7] CIL vessels in Northern Ireland fly the Blue Ensign defaced with the Commissioner's badge and those in the Republic fly the Irish tricolour.[6]

Infrastructure

Buoys

Lighthouses

See also

References

  1. ^ "History". Hook Head. Commissioners of Irish Lights. http://www.commissionersofirishlights.com/cil/aids-to-navigation/lighthouses/hook-head.aspx. Retrieved 2 September 2011. 
  2. ^ Leach, Nicholas (2005). The Lifeboat Service in Ireland. Tempus Publishing. p. 13. ISBN 0752435094. 
  3. ^ "Constitution". About CIL. Commissioners of Irish Lights. http://www.commissionersofirishlights.com/cil/about-cil/constitution.aspx. Retrieved 29 June 2010. 
  4. ^ "Finance". Information on Irish Lights. Commissioners of Irish Lights. http://www.commissionersofirishlights.com/media/16006/information%20on%20irish%20lights.doc. Retrieved 30 June 2010. 
  5. ^ "Ships in the Irish Lighthouse Service". Commissioners of Irish Lights. http://commissionersofirishlights.com/cil/history.aspx. Retrieved 2007-02-11. 
  6. ^ a b Grieve, Martin; Miles Li, Jarig Bakker, Rob Raeside (19 July 2008). "Commissioner of Irish Lights". Flags of the World. http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/ie~comil.html. Retrieved 27 April 2011. 
  7. ^ Dillon, Jim (1995). "The Evolution of Maritime Uniform". Beam (Commissioners of Irish Lights) 24. http://www.commissionersofirishlights.com/cil/publications/beam-magazines/volume-24/the-evolution-of-maritime-uniform.aspx. 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." 

External links