The Kish Bank ( Irish: ''Banc na Cise'') is a shallow sand bank approximately off the coast of
Dublin
Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
, in
Ireland
Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
. It is marked by the Kish Lighthouse,Kish Lighthouse Commissioners of Irish Lights. Retrieved: 2010-10-22. a landmark visible to sailors and
ferry
A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...
passengers passing through
Dublin Bay
Dublin Bay () is a C-shaped inlet of the Irish Sea on the east coast of Ireland. The bay 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 He ...
and
Dún Laoghaire
Dún Laoghaire ( , ) is a suburban coastal town in County Dublin in Ireland. It is the administrative centre of the county of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown. The town was built up alongside a small existing settlement following 1816 legislation th ...
harbour.
Many ships were wrecked on these shallows. The ''Vesper'' was lost in January 1876; the Norwegian MV ''Bolivar'' ran aground on the Kish Bank during a snow storm on 4 March 1947; both wrecks are frequently dived. A mailboat operated by the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company between Kingstown (now
Dún Laoghaire
Dún Laoghaire ( , ) is a suburban coastal town in County Dublin in Ireland. It is the administrative centre of the county of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown. The town was built up alongside a small existing settlement following 1816 legislation th ...
) and
Holyhead
Holyhead (; , "Cybi's fort") is a historic port town, and is the list of Anglesey towns by population, largest town and a Community (Wales), community in the county of Isle of Anglesey, Wales. Holyhead is on Holy Island, Anglesey, Holy Island ...
, , was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine on 10 October 1918. She went down east of the Kish light with over 500 lives lost, the greatest single loss of life in the Irish Sea. Fifty-five wrecks are listed for the Kish Bank area.
Lighthouse
Before the present Kish lighthouse was installed in 1965, the sandbank had been marked by a
lightvessel
A lightvessel, or lightship, is a ship that acts as a lighthouse. It is used in waters that are too deep or otherwise unsuitable for lighthouse construction. Although some records exist of fire beacons being placed on ships in Roman times, the ...
since 1811. An attempt to build a lighthouse in 1842 was abandoned following the destruction caused by severe weather. The first Irish electric light vessel, ''Gannet'', was installed in 1954.
The Commissioners of Irish Lights decided in 1960 to erect a reinforced concrete lighthouse with a helicopter landing pad on top, designed by
Christiani & Nielsen
Christiani & Nielsen was a construction contractor with major operations worldwide. It still trades in Thailand.
History
Christiani & Nielsen was established by Rudolf Christiani, a Danish civil engineer, and Aage Nielsen, a captain in the Roya ...
. The sand bank was bored in 1961 and a seismic survey revealed about of sand at the site. Construction began in 1963 in the Coal Harbour of Dún Laoghaire, but the first section of the lighthouse cracked while it was being built and had to be discarded. The second telescopic lighthouse was completed and towed out to the sandbank on 29 June 1965. The tower was raised on 27 July 1965 to its full height of , with twelve floors inside, and with a -wide helicopter platform on top. It had a projected lifetime of 75 years.
The new lighthouse took over from the previous light vessel on 9 November 1965. The lighthouse operates at a
candlepower
Candlepower (abbreviated as cp or CP) is a unit of measurement for luminous intensity. It expresses levels of light intensity relative to the light emitted by a candle of specific size and constituents. The historical candlepower is equal to 0.981 ...
of between two and three million, depending on visibility conditions, and the beam is visible for . The lighthouse was automated on 7 April 1992, and the keepers came ashore.
In July 2018, Cunningham Civil & Marine undertook an overhaul of the site, including repainting and the upgrading of helicopter netting.
Proposed windfarm
In late 1999, the Department of Marine and Natural Resources awarded licenses to allow studies to be carried out on the Kish and Bray Banks in relation to the construction of a proposed offshore wind farm. Press reports at the time suggested that 100 or more wind turbines could be erected. As of March 2001, it was reported that the
ESB Group
The Electricity Supply Board (ESB; ) is a state owned (95%; the rest are owned by employees) electricity company based in Ireland with operations worldwide. While historically a monopoly, the ESB now operates as a commercial semi-state concer ...
had been afforded a foreshore licence to undertake related surveys.
By late 2020, the proposed development (titled the "Dublin Array" project) was associated with the Irish company Saorgus Energy and German energy company RWE. In December 2022, the
Department of the Environment
An environmental ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for the environment and/or natural resources. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of the Environment, ...
granted 'Maritime Area Consent' (MAC) to RWE and Saorgus Energy, to progress the Dublin Array wind farm, to be "located on the Kish Bank and Bray Bank, roughly 10km off the coast of south Co Dublin and Co Wicklow". If built as planned it would "comprise between 45 and 61 wind turbines with capacity to generate between 600 and 900 megawatts of renewable energy". Following MAC approval, "RWE is now required to submit a planning application to An Bord Pleanála".
Burials at sea
At the time when the Department of the Marine permitted
burial at sea
Burial at sea is the disposal of Cadaver, human remains in the ocean, normally from a ship, boat or aircraft. It is regularly performed by navies, and is done by private citizens in many countries.
Burial-at-sea services are conducted at many di ...
(of people who had died on land), they normally required the burial to occur at the Kish Bank where the tides are strong, and where the sands are always moving.