Killarney Town Development Plan objective KA 21 is to ensure that there is no significant increase in artificial light intensity. It is very important to ensure that this objective is achieved since there are bats that are very sensitive to light pollution and will avoid brightly lit areas. Given the proximity of an SAC so close to the Town, inappropriate lighting around roosts may cause abandonment while lighting along commuting routes may cause preferred foraging areas to be abandoned. Planners should ensure that applications involving artificial light be subject to the appropriate assessment process and conditions should include post-development monitoring of light levels against any modelled or baseline levels.
The development plan should include an assessment of current artificial light intensity and investigate opportunities to decrease levels in the Town so as to seamlessly merge the large unlit spaces of the Park into the urban experience. Opportunities exist such as using focused light, e.g. by using LED or shielded luminaires which limit the light flux only to the required areas and prevent light trespass into adjacent habitats. There is a wealth of information out there including guidelines such as ‘Guidelines for consideration of bats in lighting projects’ available at https://eurobats.org/sites/default/files/documents/publications/publication_series/WEB_DIN_A4_EUROBATS_08_ENGL_NVK_28022019.pdf