The 'Granuaile'

 


I created my mural of the Irish Lights Tender 'Granuaile' and the Kish Lighthouse along the East Pier in March 2024.

I painted the sea vessel first and upon discovering to my surprise that my mural frame was too large, I opted to add the Kish - as both come under the management of the Commissioners of Irish Lights and both had revolutionary designs for their time.

This mural is one of my favourite works. Ie was especially taken with the distinctive design of the 'Granuaile', with her unique large frontal accommodation feature. The 'Granuaile' is often anchored in Wicklow Bay as part of her rotational trips along the east coast, while the lights of the Kish may be seen on a clear night from the pier.

The 'Granuaile' was delivered to Irish Lights in January 2000 as one of the most advanced vessels of her type in the world at the time.

She was a prototype for new builds for Trinity House (England & Wales), the Northern Lighthouse Board (Scotland) and the Middle East Navigation Aids Service (MENAS).

The vessel's primary function is to place and service our 150 offshore buoys, which warn mariners of the location of sand banks, reefs and other offshore hazards near shipping routes.

The vessel also serves as a helicopter platform for servicing offshore lighthouses and is available to assist State agencies with search & rescue, emergency towing, oil pollution control, surveying and offshore data collection.

The Kish Lighthouse was constructed in Coal Harbour, Dun Laoighre between 1963 - 65 and was based on an innovative Scandanavian telescopic design of concentric tubular sections of reinforced concrete designed to slide into one another.

The structure was towed out to the Kish Bank, a shallow sand bank approximately 11 kilometres (7 mi) off the coast of Dublin, on 29 June 1965. The tower was raised on 27 July 1965 to its full height of 100 feet (30 m), with twelve floors inside, and with a 32-foot (9.8 m)-wide helicopter platform on top. It had a projected lifetime of 75 years.

On 7 April 1992, the lighthouse was converted to automatic operation and the Keepers were withdrawn from the station.

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