It is appropriate, that in this IMO designated year of the Seafarer, Irish Lights are celebrating 200 years of service to the Mariner.

The Legal Basis for the operations of the Commissioners of Irish Lights dates back to an Act passed by the Irish Parliament sitting in Dublin in 1786. This Act of Grattan's Parliament created a body entitled The Corporation for Preserving and Improving the Port of Dublin. As this unwieldy title implies, its functions were the operations of Dublin Port. Until the year 1810, apart from the provision of aids to navigation in Dublin Port, it had no jurisdiction over or connection with lighthouses around the coast of Ireland.

It was in this year that our history truly began. The Irish Parliament had been abolished and the British Parliament passed the Lighthouses (Ireland) Act 1810, which transferred to the Corporation all the power, duties and functions relating to the control of lighthouses around the coast of Ireland, although the title and constitution of the Corporation remained unchanged.

In 1854 the Merchant Shipping Act conferred on the Corporation a new and separate title The Port of Dublin Corporation. In effect the original Corporation for Preserving and Improving the Port of Dublin looked after Dublin Port while the Port of Dublin Corporation looked after lighthouses, buoys and beacons around the coast.

Finally, in 1867, a new Act formally separated the two bodies and the Port of Dublin Corporation was renamed the Commissioners of Irish Lights and the other was renamed the Dublin Port and Docks Board.

From such beginnings and with some more adjustments along the way, we are where we are today. Together with our sister organisations of Trinity House and the Northern Lighthouse Board, we provide an integrated and safety system of Aids to Navigation around the coasts of Britain and Ireland.

From the traditional concept of the functions of a lighthouse in its fundamental form to the future of navigation which will be mainly undoubtedly electronic, Irish Lights has been at the forefront of safety for mariners in Irish waters.

On 15 June 2010 we celebrate 200 years of commitment since the signing of the Lighthouses (Ireland) Act. Our mandate continues and I am honoured to be the present Chairman of Irish Lights. Over the years, aids to navigation have changed and continue to change but the delivery of our motto In Salutem Omnium-For the Safety of the Mariner remains the cornerstone of our organisation.

John Kidney,

Chairman.