irish lights coimisin ir soilse na h ireann motto in salutem omnium latin for the safety of all formation 1786 type statutory corporation headquarters d n laoghaire ireland services navigational aids key people sheila tyrrell chairperson yvonne shields chief executive website www.cil.ie the commissioners of irish lights irish coimisin ir soilse na h ireann is the body that serves as the general lighthouse authority for the island of 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 light dues paid by ships calling at ports in 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 the cil but never puts in to its ports . contents 1 history 2 finance 3 ships 3.1 granuaile iii 3.2 other vessels 4 flags 5 infrastructure 5.1 buoys 5.2 lighthouses 6 see also 7 references 8 external links history edit 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 dubh n in the fifth century . 1 monks continued to maintain the light until the cromwellian conquest of ireland in 1641 . king charles ii re established 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 queen anne 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 remain the legislative basis for the cil . 3 irish lights has moved its headquarters from dublin to a purpose built new building in harbour road d n laoghaire . finance edit 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 ireland . 4 the general lighthouse fund is administered by the uk department for transport . it also finances trinity house lighthouse service the general lighthouse authority for england wales and the channel islands ; 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 edit granuaile iii edit the commissioners currently have only one light tender 5 in service named ilv granuaile . the hull was built at gala i shipyard romania in 2000 and fitted out at damen shipyards in the netherlands . 6 she is registered in dublin and has a 2 625 gross tonnage gt 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 fishing boat pisces which sank off fethard county wexford in july 2002 . other vessels edit 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 edit 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 . 7 the st. george s cross was used until 1970 . 8 cil vessels in northern ireland fly the blue ensign defaced with the commissioner s badge and those in the republic fly the irish tricolour . 7 infrastructure edit buoys edit lighthouses edit area location county donegal inishowen inishtrahull fanad dunree buncrana tory island arranmore ballagh rocks rathlin o birne rotten island st. john s county sligo blackrock lower rosses point metal man oyster island county mayo broadhaven eagle island blacksod blacksod bay achillbeg inishgort county galway slyne head cashla bay eeragh straw island inisheer county clare blackhead loop head kilcredaun head corlis point front corlis point rear scattery island county kerry little samphire island inishtearaght cromwell point valentia rear valentia front skelligs county cork bull rock ardnakinna castletown roancarrig sheep s head mizen head crookhaven copper point fastnet rock baltimore beacon galley head old head of kinsale charles fort roches point ballycotton youghal county waterford mine head ballinacourty point dunmore east county wexford duncannon hook head tuskar rock county wicklow wicklow head county dublin muglins poolbeg kish bank baily howth head rockabill county louth dundalk county down green island vidal bank haulbowline st. john s point angus rock donaghadee mew island county antrim blackhead chaine memorial tower the maidens rathlin east rue point rathlin west see also edit lighthouses in ireland lightvessels in ireland references edit history . hook head . commissioners of irish lights . retrieved 16 may 2015 . leach nicholas 2005 . the lifeboat service in ireland . tempus publishing . p. 13 . isbn 0 7524 3509 4 . constitution . about cil . commissioners of irish lights . retrieved 16 may 2015 . finance . information on irish lights . commissioners of irish lights . retrieved 16 may 2015 . ships in the irish lighthouse service . commissioners of irish lights . retrieved 16 may 2015 . ilv granuaile pdf . the marine department . retrieved 16 may 2015 . a b grieve martin ; miles li ; jarig bakker ; rob raeside 19 july 2008 . commissioner of irish lights . flags of the world . retrieved 27 april 2011 . dillon jim 1995 . the evolution of maritime uniform . beam . commissioners of irish lights . 24 . 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 edit official website authority control worldcat identities viaf 139726990 lccn n97037307 retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title commissioners of irish lights & oldid 739755345 categories 1786 establishmentslighthouses in irelandlighthouses in northern irelandlighthouse organizationsd n laoghairewater transport in irelandall ireland organisationsdepartment for transporthidden categories engvarb from october 2013use dmy dates from october 2013articles containing latin language textwikipedia articles with viaf identifierswikipedia articles with lccn identifiers navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages deutschgaeilgeitalianonorsk bokm l edit links this page was last modified on 16 september 2016 at 19 32 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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