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.