Lighthouses set to lose €12m British subsidy

A HIGH-LEVEL British government report has called for an end to the practice of paying a multi-million euro subsidy for Ireland’s lighthouses.

The long-awaited examination of lighthouses on the two islands is due to be published this week by the British department for transport.

The Atkins report proposes to end to the pre-Independence arrangement whereby the British treasury still pays the majority of costs for running the Commission of Irish Lights in the south.

The report was delivered to the department for transport on Friday. Its junior minister Paul Clark confirmed the authors sought to encourage the Government here to take full financial responsibility for our own maritime infrastructure.

The British lighthouse subsidy saved Irish taxpayers €12.1 million last year. And Mr Clark said ending this would be difficult to implement.

The report said whatever changes are introduced should not be allowed undermine the co-operation between shipping navigation systems in the North and south.

“Many of the recommendations will challenge long-standing assumptions about delivery and charging for the provision of aids to navigation.

“Key recommendations include the development of a roadmap agreed with the Irish Government on the financing of the Commissioners of Irish Lights, setting out an incentivised financial model, which retains the all-Ireland body while allowing its costs within the Republic of Ireland to be covered wholly from Irish sources,” Mr Clark said.

The Assessment of the Provision of Marine Aids to Navigation Around the United Kingdom and Ireland examined all avenues for reducing lighthouse costs.

The report was produced as part of an agreement reached between Transport Minister Noel Dempsey and his British counterpart Jim Fitzpatrick last May.

At this stage Mr Dempsey agreed to increase the grant-aid Ireland supplies to the two-island General Lighthouse Fund, to cover a greater portion of the costs linked to the 32 counties.

He estimated this would cost Irish taxpayers an additional €2.5m a year.

Mr Clark said the British government would not be able to act on every suggestion in the Atkins report.

Unusually, control of the Commission of Irish Lights was never transferred to the state after Independence.

The CIL was set up under the Dublin Port Act of 1867 and is funded from shipping dues paid by vessels travelling through Irish waters.

This means the British government pays the bulk of the costs, ultimately oversees the organisation and sets the fees for ships communicating with Irish lighthouses.

Up until now the British government has pushed the Irish Government to stump up for a great portion of the lighthouses bill.

But it has been reluctant to relinquish the strategic interest it has by controlling all shipping navigation in the area.