Britain to stop €8m lighthouse subsidy

THE British government has decided Transport Minister Noel Dempsey should foot the full multi-million euro bill to run our lighthouses and end subsidy arrangements dating back to the days of the empire.

Inter-governmental negotiations are continuing over the €8m Britain spends each year on the Commissioners for Irish Lights.

But the House of Lords was told the Labour government was unhappy at paying for unfinished business from the 1920s Treaty. This had kept Irish lighthouses under British control.

Speaking for the British Government, Lord Faulkner said a delegation met Mr Dempsey on May 21 and talks would continue until the “Irish situation” was resolved.

He said it was “not satisfactory that light dues collected in Britain are being used in part to pay for lights in the Irish Republic”.

But while his colleagues in government were determined to recover the full price of the service he said Ireland would not be left in the lurch.

“The [British] government are committed to renegotiating the current agreement to require the Republic of Ireland to meet the full costs... Simply walking away from the joint funding agreement and letting Ireland sink or swim on its own is not an option,” he said.

Lord Faulkner was speaking during a House of Lords debate last week which called for an end to the subsidising of Irish lighthouses.

The motion was tabled by Lord Berkeley, a long-time opponent of the deal.

In the 1985 Anglo Irish Agreement Garret FitzGerald’s government agreed to pay 70% of the costs of maintaining lighthouses for the entire island.

A British review in 2008 recommended Ireland pay 85%, an additional cost of €2.5m. This was agreed for 2009/’10. However, Lord Faulkner estimated the cost to the Britain’s General Lighthouse Fund was still €8m.

“The net financial saving of ending co-operation with Ireland is probably around £7m (€8.15m), but we would lose the very large unquantifiable benefits of an integrated service if we cast Ireland adrift,” he said.

This year it had to increase shipping charges to cover a deficit in its budget and its pension reserve for its staff – 272 work in Ireland.

A statement from the Department of Transport said it was aware of the House of Lords debate and was monitoring the increase in shipping dues.

“We understand that the House of Lords discussed this issue last week and decided to increase the dues in Britain. Here in Ireland a submission is being prepared for the minister to consider on whether we will do likewise,” it said.