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Displaying items by tag: maritime safety

6th July 2023

Irish Lights Launch Cutting-Edge Local Aids to Navigation Portal to Enhance Maritime Safety

The Commissioners of Irish Lights has announced the launch of its new Local Aids to Navigation Management Portal for use by ports, harbours, local authorities, and other bodies who manage aids to navigation at a local level.

This state-of-the-art online platform will enhance the management and reporting of aids to navigation services, ensuring safe and efficient maritime operations in Ireland and Northern Ireland.

There are over 3,500 local aids to navigation comprising lighthouses, buoys, beacons, poles, and signs that play a crucial role in ensuring maritime safety by assisting vessels in the identification of safe navigable waters and highlighting the locations of marine hazards for all marine users. They are used to maintain efficient and safe navigation routes while also marking aquaculture sites, identifying the locations of cables and pipelines, outfall pipes and the locations of recreation zones such as those used for swimming.

These local aids to navigation are managed by Local Lighthouse Authorities, including ports and harbours, local authorities, district and borough councils, who will rely on this new portal to fulfil their responsibilities effectively. The portal will also allow for the management of the statutory sanction consenting process which is required when an aid to navigation is being established, altered or removed. This ensures that the change has been risk assessed and that the information is included on nautical charts and publications for use by seafarers.

Irish Lights plays a crucial role in guaranteeing the safe and efficient operation of these vital services in Ireland, North and South, and is the authority responsible for the quality assurance of local aids to navigation services under the international SOLAS Convention.

To facilitate Local Lighthouse Authorities in executing their duties and meeting their legal obligations under the Merchant Shipping Acts, Irish Lights has developed an intuitive Geographical Information System (GIS) based management and reporting tool within the portal. This innovative solution enhances the situational awareness of the Local Lighthouse Authority by presenting the aid to navigation against the backdrop of the nautical chart, showing the position of adjacent hazards and including spatial measurement tools. The portal provides a documents facility for record keeping.

“Irish Lights has worked closely with the Local Lighthouse Authorities to create a portal that greatly improves maritime safety in Ireland. This portal serves as a central hub where information is managed, inspections are conducted efficiently, and comprehensive reports on local aids to navigation are generated. It enables seamless sharing of data among stakeholders, giving decision-makers the necessary tools to quickly report and manage dangers,” said Ronan Boyle, Director of eNavigation and Maritime Services at Irish Lights. “This portal provides an easy-to-use and reliable management and reporting tool based on GIS technology, empowering those using it to carry out their responsibilities more efficiently and effectively”.

The launch of the Local Aids to Navigation Portal coincides with the internationally-celebrated IALA World Aids to Navigation Day 2023, further demonstrating Irish Lights' dedication to global collaboration and the progress of aids to navigation practices worldwide. World Aids to Navigation Day celebrates the ever-increasing significance of maritime trade and the need to protect our oceans and those who navigate them, with Irish Lights' at the forefront of leveraging cutting-edge technology to safeguard maritime safety and protecting our coastlines in Ireland.

Published in Lighthouses
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7th December 2010

Budget 2011: €8 million Helicopter is Principal Expenditure for Coastguard

Today the Minister for Transport Mr Noel Dempsey T.D. announced the 2011 Estimates provision for his Department. The following are the principal features of the 2011 Estimates for marine affairs in his remit.

The 2011 capital provision will be €15 million, compared with €13 million in 2010. The principal item of capital expenditure is the provision of a search and rescue helicopter service (€8 million).  Also included is expenditure on the Irish Coast Guard, maritime safety and remedial works at regional harbours.

The 2011 provision will be €39 million unchanged from 2010 for current expenditure. The principal item of expenditure is the provision of a search and rescue helicopter service (€27m current expenditure). 

Published in Budget
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Dublin Bay

Dublin Bay on the east coast of Ireland stretches over seven kilometres, from Howth Head on its northern tip to Dalkey Island in the south. It's a place most Dubliners simply take for granted, and one of the capital's least visited places. But there's more going on out there than you'd imagine.

The biggest boating centre is at Dun Laoghaire Harbour on the Bay's south shore that is home to over 1,500 pleasure craft, four waterfront yacht clubs and Ireland's largest marina.

The bay is rather shallow with many sandbanks and rocky outcrops, and was notorious in the past for shipwrecks, especially when the wind was from the east. Until modern times, many ships and their passengers were lost along the treacherous coastline from Howth to Dun Laoghaire, less than a kilometre from shore.

The Bay is a C-shaped inlet of the Irish Sea and is about 10 kilometres wide along its north-south base, and 7 km in length to its apex at the centre of the city of Dublin; stretching from Howth Head in the north to Dalkey Point in the south. North Bull Island is situated in the northwest part of the bay, where one of two major inshore sandbanks lie, and features a 5 km long sandy beach, Dollymount Strand, fronting an internationally recognised wildfowl reserve. Many of the rivers of Dublin reach the Irish Sea at Dublin Bay: the River Liffey, with the River Dodder flow received less than 1 km inland, River Tolka, and various smaller rivers and streams.

Dublin Bay FAQs

There are approximately ten beaches and bathing spots around Dublin Bay: Dollymount Strand; Forty Foot Bathing Place; Half Moon bathing spot; Merrion Strand; Bull Wall; Sandycove Beach; Sandymount Strand; Seapoint; Shelley Banks; Sutton, Burrow Beach

There are slipways on the north side of Dublin Bay at Clontarf, Sutton and on the southside at Dun Laoghaire Harbour, and in Dalkey at Coliemore and Bulloch Harbours.

Dublin Bay is administered by a number of Government Departments, three local authorities and several statutory agencies. Dublin Port Company is in charge of navigation on the Bay.

Dublin Bay is approximately 70 sq kilometres or 7,000 hectares. The Bay is about 10 kilometres wide along its north-south base, and seven km in length east-west to its peak at the centre of the city of Dublin; stretching from Howth Head in the north to Dalkey Point in the south.

Dun Laoghaire Harbour on the southside of the Bay has an East and West Pier, each one kilometre long; this is one of the largest human-made harbours in the world. There also piers or walls at the entrance to the River Liffey at Dublin city known as the Great North and South Walls. Other harbours on the Bay include Bulloch Harbour and Coliemore Harbours both at Dalkey.

There are two marinas on Dublin Bay. Ireland's largest marina with over 800 berths is on the southern shore at Dun Laoghaire Harbour. The other is at Poolbeg Yacht and Boat Club on the River Liffey close to Dublin City.

Car and passenger Ferries operate from Dublin Port to the UK, Isle of Man and France. A passenger ferry operates from Dun Laoghaire Harbour to Howth as well as providing tourist voyages around the bay.

Dublin Bay has two Islands. Bull Island at Clontarf and Dalkey Island on the southern shore of the Bay.

The River Liffey flows through Dublin city and into the Bay. Its tributaries include the River Dodder, the River Poddle and the River Camac.

Dollymount, Burrow and Seapoint beaches

Approximately 1,500 boats from small dinghies to motorboats to ocean-going yachts. The vast majority, over 1,000, are moored at Dun Laoghaire Harbour which is Ireland's boating capital.

In 1981, UNESCO recognised the importance of Dublin Bay by designating North Bull Island as a Biosphere because of its rare and internationally important habitats and species of wildlife. To support sustainable development, UNESCO’s concept of a Biosphere has evolved to include not just areas of ecological value but also the areas around them and the communities that live and work within these areas. There have since been additional international and national designations, covering much of Dublin Bay, to ensure the protection of its water quality and biodiversity. To fulfil these broader management aims for the ecosystem, the Biosphere was expanded in 2015. The Biosphere now covers Dublin Bay, reflecting its significant environmental, economic, cultural and tourism importance, and extends to over 300km² to include the bay, the shore and nearby residential areas.

On the Southside at Dun Laoghaire, there is the National Yacht Club, Royal St. George Yacht Club, Royal Irish Yacht Club and Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club as well as Dublin Bay Sailing Club. In the city centre, there is Poolbeg Yacht and Boat Club. On the Northside of Dublin, there is Clontarf Yacht and Boat Club and Sutton Dinghy Club. While not on Dublin Bay, Howth Yacht Club is the major north Dublin Sailing centre.

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