Built for £2,440 in 1864 (about €435,000), Blacksod Lighthouse is at the centre of a burgeoning tourism industry in the Erris Peninsula in Co Mayo.
Lighthouse tourism is becoming a big revenue generator in remote parts of the country, with more than 350,000 visits and €33 million in direct revenue per year.
“It is massive for the local area,” says Fergus Sweeney, who looks after tourism at Blacksod Lighthouse. . “It’s creating jobs that just did not exist in the area before 2021.”
In addition to the 25 jobs directly created by the lighthouse, the tourists it is drawing to the area is helping the local hotels and businesses.
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“We feed off them and they feed off us,“ he said. ”It’s a slow burner, but I think we’re in the very early stages of it.”
Supported by the Great Lighthouses of Ireland initiative and Comharchumann Forbartha Ionad Deirbhile, Blacksod Lighthouse opened to the public in summer 2021. A further tourism draw was developed shortly after – the Solas Visitor Centre “just down the road” in Aghleam.
The centre opened its doors in 2024 following an investment of about €4 million between the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund (€2.47 million), Údarás na Gaeltachta (€1 million) and the Department of the Gaeltacht (€500,000).
It has become a crucial tourist attraction for the local area and its economic impact has been “massive”, Sweeney says.
The number of visitors attracted to the Great Lighthouses of Ireland has doubled since 2018 to more than 350,000 per year, according to a recent report by economic consultants KHSK.
This source of tourism now supports almost 700 jobs across coastal communities.
Yvonne Shields O’Connor, chief executive of Irish Lights, says lighthouse tourism is having a “wider economic impact” to the surrounding areas, “much of which flows directly into small businesses, accommodation providers, food producers and local services”.
Now, Irish Lights is working to build on the foundation of revenue the tourism has generated. It plans to make the Great Lighthouses of Ireland a “global example of sustainable tourism”.
Its goal is to drive a further 25 per cent increase in tourism revenues by 2030, having seen these income streams double in the past five years.
“We want richer stories that connect people with our coast and communities, while keeping lighthouses alive and inspiring,” says Shields O’Connor. “The next decade is about deepening that impact and ensuring these iconic operational lighthouses continue to guide future generations.”
Sweeney tells one of those “rich stories” through his own family connection with the lighthouse, which is a multigenerational affair. Born in nearby Blacksod, his father Gerry and uncle Vincent remain the Blacksod Lighthouse attendants to this day.
The lighthouse’s big draw is its connection to the D-Day landings on the beaches of Normandy. Operation Overlord was delayed by a day following a weather report by Fergus Sweeney’s late grandmother, Maureen Flavin.
“Subsequent readings from Blacksod then indicate to the Allies that the invasion can actually proceed on the morning of June 6th,” Sweeney explains.
“They credit my grandmother with having saved D-Day! That, for us, is a huge story. Probably 90 per cent of the tourists that come to visit Blacksod come to hear that story.”
Operations began at Blacksod as some of the Covid restrictions were lifting slightly. “We were in there with masks for the first tours.”
Although opening at a challenging period, Sweeney says “the interest has always been there for Blacksod. The stories we tell of the lighthouse are representative of the area; they reflect the history of Ireland.
“The interest in them is phenomenal,” he adds, while also confirming that the number of visitors coming to the lighthouse “took off” when they got listed as a location with the Great Lighthouses of Ireland.
“It has just grown and grown from there,” he says. “We have just had an incredibly busy summer.”
During that season, the lighthouse is a popular destination for coach tours but as tourism drops come autumn, the lighthouse staff targets schools tours. However, for a remote part of Co Mayo, getting tourists to the area can be challenging.
“We are not the Ring of Kerry, we are not the Cliffs of Moher. We have Achill Island, just six miles across the bay to our south, and I would easily say it probably gets 10 times the amount of tourism that we would get. But we still feel we’re doing really well.”
The challenge now, he says, is to add value to the area and increase visitor numbers further.
“We still have to prove a lot,” says Sweeney. “There was a lot of investment into the Solas Visitor Centre and the lighthouse project. For us, it’s all about forward planning and ‘where do we take this next?’.
“The beauty of it is that we are a social enterprise for the community. So we’re not profit-driven. If we can break even and give local people wages, then we are hitting our marks.”
As well as being a historical monument, Blacksod still plays a vital function in Ireland’s coast guard. With an adjacent working pier and two helipads, it is an important refuelling depot under the remit of the Department of the Marine and Irish Lights.
Chairman of Great Lighthouses Ireland, Bobby Kerr, says Ireland’s lighthouses present a “unique” business model by pulling together “community groups, local operators, public agencies and tourism partners” to create tourism and economic opportunities.
