EXHIBITION TURNS SPOTLIGHT ON IRISH LIGHTS

THE Commissioners of Irish Lights has launched a major exhibition at the County Hall in Wexford on ‘Safety at Sea Through War and Upheaval’.

The exhibition was opened by council Chair Cllr Paddy Kavanagh and Irish Lights’ Operations and Property Manager Eoghan Lehane who formally introduced the exhibition, the result of a collaboration with the Royal Irish Academy that captures the history of Irish Lights from 1911-1923.

What emerges is a never-before-told story of devotion to duty, scientific, engineering and physical endeavour, world war, revolution and change. It is also a deeply personal story of those who worked with and built up Irish Lights and who devoted their lives to protecting the coastline for the safety of all.

Through the 19th Century the number of Ireland’s lighthouses increased from 14 to 74, with 11 lightships placed around the east and south coasts.

The exhibition explores how Irish Lights, with its origins in the late-18th Century, and coming of age in the 19th, faced the challenges of global and national uncertainty in the early 20th century. Precisely, the exhibition details Irish Lights’ history between 1911 and 1923, exploring these years and historical events such as the 1916 Easter Rising, the Anglo-Irish War of 1919–1921, and the Anglo-Irish Treaty.

The exhibition includes 15 panels in total, which in a chronological, historical timeline order, take a national view in telling the history of Irish Lights, and the history of the island of Ireland.

The exhibition runs until March 5. Wexford Lighthouse Keepers (from left) back – Tux Tweedy, Billy Walsh, Kieran Roche, Frank Kelly, Michael Murphy, John Busher and Brian Kelly of Irish Lights; front – James Wickham, Ray Wickham, Nicholas Tweedy, Tom...

Cat Hogan, Captain Philip Murphy, Sara Hogan and Joey Hogan.

Stephen Wickham, David Sherwood and Fergus Wickham.

Declan Roche, Breda Roche and Brendan Howlin TD.

Jacinta Lett, Billy Walsh and Ina Lett.