Lookout Posts and EIRE Signs

I would like this submission linked to Submissions KE-C1-28 and KE-C1-20.

I am very pleased to see that WW2 Lookout Posts have been listed in the County Development Plan.

Thanks to the uncovering and renovation of some EIRE signs around the country in recent years, many people are aware that 83 Lookout Posts were built around the coast at the beginning of World War 2. In the following 3 years numbered EIRE signs were constructed in their vicinity.

These lookout posts and signs were part of our coastal defences during World War 2 and were manned 24 hours a day for 5 years. The names of the volunteers who manned them and many of the Log Books, with daily reports in their own handwriting, can be viewed in the Military Archives.

Twelve of the original LOPs and EIRE signs were located in Kerry. Some LOPs no longer exist, as is the case in Fenit. Most of the EIRE signs are overgrown, or in many cases have been completely removed.

In 2019, when I uncovered and painted the smaller of the two Lambs Head EIRE signs near Derrynane/Caherdaniel, a small part of the roof of the LOP #33 had collapsed. By the Summer of 2020, some of the window frames had also collapsed. This heritage building needs to be saved.

It is wonderful to see that the renovation and preservation of the Eask Head LOP #36 and the Brandon Point LOP #40 are listed in the Kerry County Development Plan.

I would ask that the preservation of all the remaining Lookout Posts are included in the Development Plan.

I also think that Kerry CC should have a policy of encouraging local groups to reinstate their EIRE signs where possible. They would be a wonderful Tourist Attraction.