Irish Section of the IDA Annual Report 2004

I havent recieved any further feedback from Colm so I expect this to pretty much be te report thats sent to the IDA. The report is basically a formality, letting the IDA know what we are doing, and its written as such.

Cheers,
~Al


The Irish Section of the International Dark Sky Association
Annual Report

Wednesday 24 November 2004

Its not quite the end of the year yet but since I don't think that Ireland is going to adopt nation-wide good lighting ordinances in the next month I might as well write this report now!

Activities
This is only the second year of the Irish Section but as we have learned more about the issues and possible solutions of light pollution as well as specific national issues our activities have increased.
Over the past year we have had displays or been invited to the three major star parties in Ireland, Whirlpool hosted by Shannonside Astronomy Club, COSMOS hosted by Tullamore Astronomical Society, and the Connaught Star Party hosted by Galway Astronomy Club.
Unfortunately our request to have some presence at the more commercial
"astro-expo" exhibition hosted by Astronomy Ireland / Astronomy and Space magazine was not responded to. We are currently working with the organisers to ensure that we can have a presence next year.

In addition to these displays several talks were given including an address to the professional Astronomical Sciences group of Ireland.
Darren Baskill of the CfDS from the UK also addressed this conference.

In the Media
In the media, several articles have been published in Astronomical circles. On radio we have written to several programmes where the topic of pollution and wasted energy has been brought up and occasionally our input has been mentioned. Although we have no television coverage ourselves, "Eco Eye" broadcast on state television ran a segment of a program on light pollution with input from Prof. Mark Bailey of Armagh Observatory, that this happened without prompting from us shows the increasing interest in the problem in Ireland.

On the Web
Our website was again redesigned and interested groups were again asked to provide links to our site. This has contributed to us finally being the number 1 rank in google for searches like "light pollution Ireland". The Irish Federation of Astronomical Societies host this website, along with a section on their discussion boards. For those not wishing to use the astronomy orientated web forum, a traditional mailing list is still in place.

Successes
The Irish Section is really ran by just two people, therefore the activities and consequent successes of the group are limited. The areas where successes have been made are where a targeted specific campaign was made or where the group in question was already sympathetic to our ideas.

Clare County Council, which defines the planning and development of a reasonably rural section of western Ireland have agreed to include a section in their development plan regarding light pollution. The text in the draft plan is as follows:

The Planning Authority wishes to minimise light pollution and in considering proposals for development that include the provision of external lighting will require the proposal to clearly demonstrate that the lighting scheme is the minimum needed for security and working practises.

The Planning Authority accepts that lighting is a necessary requirement in relation to security and in some circumstances the requirements of occupational health and safety. However, the provision of floodlighting for commercial and recreational developments in settlement and the lighting of buildings and facilities in open countryside can result in a loss of residential amenity or environmental quality and present a hazard to road users. Details of any external lighting scheme intended as part of any new development shall be submitted as part of the planning application.

It was also decided to approach the National Roads Authority given the increased motorway/highway construction in Ireland. We had asked that road lighting when it was necessary to use it at all should be flat glass full cutoff. The NRA has responded by saying:

In relation to light pollution, it is normal practice on new road schemes where lighting is required to use fully horizontal cut off lighting as a means to control the impact of road lighting.

While this is not exactly a commitment to exclusively use FCO lighting it does state that this is normal practice and all recent road developments do use FCO's. It must be stated that prior to our request the NRA was already using FCO's on some interchanges.

In Dublin the Electricity Supply board installed extremely bright lights on their chimneys in Dublin port. The effects of these lights were visible for over 20 miles away. The reason given was that the previous red lights were no longer maintainable and aviation rules required the new lights to be installed. The Irish Section along with local residents and in particular Brian Greene were able to have this decision revised so that less intensive lights would be used.

The Electricity Supply board are also the main street lighting contractor in Ireland. Therefore we asked them what their policy on light pollution was and what they planned to do to reduce light pollution. Their response is at
www.irishastronomy.org/ilpac/Documents/E..._the_environment.pdf
Basically low pressure sodium is preferred in environmentally sensitive areas and town centers, unfortunately LPS lighting fixtures are the most light polluting in this country. Increasingly however highly efficient high pressure sodium lighting is being used which in most cases is not FCO but it does greatly reduce the spillage of light compared to previous SOX designs. The response while far from ideal does reflect that they are well aware of the issues and are implementing increasing less polluting lighting in the country.

Other groups Activities

Over the past year professional astronomers spoke to members of the government about the effects of light pollution. As yet we have not heard of any proposals resulting from these discussions.

The Royal Irish Academy has now created an Astronomy Committee who are also interested in progressing the issue of light pollution at a government level. While the Irish Section is not represented on this committee we do liaise with it though several members of the committee and will be working together where possible.

Finances

The Irish section has resisted introducing a membership fee. It was felt that while this might raise some money it would also create the need for us to administer the section as a club which would just take up more of our time. So all expenses up to this point have been paid by Albert White and Colm O'Brien.

This is an unsustainable model so we have introduced a paypal donation system on our website should anyone wish to donate, and are exploring the possibility of selling merchandise to raise additional funds.

The Future

The Irish Section has several plans for the coming year.

The main objective is to campaign to all councils once the development plan in Co. Clare is finalised asking for similar, or better ordinances to be used in other councils. This will be accompanied by some form of media campaign.

To raise some finances to at least cover postage!

To increase our activities with regard to giving lectures and having a presence at exhibitions.

Thanks to the recent support for the Kyoto protocol by the Russian government this treaty comes into effect. Therefore pollution from energy production and wasting energy will be an even stronger focus of our arguments. It is unfortunate that the United States government did not take the initiative in ratifying the treaty along with the other 126 out of 137 countries that have done so to date as this would have brought the treaty into effect sooner.

Knowing some of the work that this group has undertaken in the past few months (as they have accepted TAS's invitation to talk down here on January 10th), I say kudos to ILPAC, and long may you have the support where it matters most.

Well done Albert & Colm!

Seanie.

Albert,

I was in the Tralee town library last week and had a look at the Tralee Development plan. I was dissapointed to see not only no reference to light pollution but an encouragement for developers to "consider decorative lighting" on the outside of their building schemes.
Then faith was restored when I noticed the Kerry County Development plan 2003 and found the following section.

Extract from Kerry County Development plan.

Light Pollution

12.2.15. Many developments, particular large-scale commercial developments located in the open countryside, are visually prominent, particularly at night due to the level of lighting provided throughout the site. The Planning Authority accepts that lighting is a necessary requirement in relation to security and in some instances the requirements of occupational health and safety. There has been an increased tendency to illuminate buildings to an excessive degree and incorporating lighting, which gives rise to glare on public roads.

11.2.16. It shall, therefore, be an objective (of) the Planning Authority to minimise light pollution. Details of any external lighting scheme intended as part of any new development shall be submitted as part of the planning application. Applicants will be required to demonstrate that the lighting scheme proposed is the minimum needed for security and working purposes.

This may be too late for your annual report, but it is a step in the right direction.

Michael Scully
Chairman KAC

Thank Michael, I had no idea that had gone in!

Finances

The Irish section has resisted introducing a membership fee. It was felt that while this might raise some money it would also create the need for us to administer the section as a club which would just take up more of our time. So all expenses up to this point have been paid by Albert White and Colm O'Brien.

This is an unsustainable model so we have introduced a paypal donation system on our website should anyone wish to donate, and are exploring the possibility of selling merchandise to raise additional funds.

J. Kelly Beatty's "shame on you" at WSP 2003 (or was it 2002) when he asked how many of us are members of the IDA is still ringing in my ears. I think he's right - as someone who has had the priviledge of getting to know some of the beauty of the night sky, I think I have a responsibility to help preserve it.

So, I have some questions. What is the relationship of ILPAC to the IDA - if I'm a "member" of ILPAC am I also a "member" of the IDA, or should I apply to the IDA seperately? And, approximately what does it cost to run ILPAC - if there was a membership fee, what might it be?

J. Kelly Beatty's "shame on you" at WSP 2003 (or was it 2002) when he asked how many of us are members of the IDA is still ringing in my ears. I think he's right - as someone who has had the priviledge of getting to know some of the beauty of the night sky, I think I have a responsibility to help preserve it.

So, I have some questions. What is the relationship of ILPAC to the IDA - if I'm a "member" of ILPAC am I also a "member" of the IDA, or should I apply to the IDA seperately? And, approximately what does it cost to run ILPAC - if there was a membership fee, what might it be?

Yep 2003, thankfully he gave an enthusiastic endorsement of ILPAC the next day, as did David Levy who is on the board of directors of the IDA.

ILPAC and the IDA are two different groups, sort of.

If you were to join the IDA, you would be a member of the Irish Section, which effectivly means ILPAC. However the money you give to the IDA does not come back to ILPAC and stays with the IDA for the fighting light pollution at an international level. My membership of the IDA is my own private membership paid for by me.

If you join ILPAC, if we were to put in a membership fee, then you would just be a member of ILPAC and not the IDA.

Thi Irish section of the IDA is technically me. Since everything I do is through ILPAC, it means that effectivly ILPAC is the Irish section of the IDA.

I hope that cliarifies things! I can see why its confusing, but it suits everyone best this way I think.

A membership fee is something that I need to discus with some folks before putting a figure on it. There are also issues areound being a club and charging membership in that I feel we should give something back to members that non members dont get, that requires thought, money and administration. The expenses we have are like that of any club, printing, stamps, phone calls, faxes etc., getting posters and preparing displays for exhibitions - something that I'm still working on, the fee for lodging an objection to any planning developments etc. I also plan to publish our own leaflet next year, like Armagh Observatory have, but I hope to get sponsorship for that. Rather than trying to worry about membership for the moment I have set up a paypal donation system on the ILPAC page so you can donate! hint hint![1]

Cheers,
~Al

[1] The sharp eyed will notice that this donation system gets paid to me personally, thats because ILPAC doesnt have a bank account yet. The amount of these payments will be in the report posted here (though probably not to the IDA since its our money not theirs!) and I will let Colm or John Flannery examine my paypal account if there is a dispute!