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Getty ImagesDozens of objections have been submitted to a proposed change to the light source at an historic lighthouse at St John’s Point in County Down.
The proposal includes replacing the mercury that makes the light rotate with a low-energy LED alternative.
Campaigners fear that altering the mechanism controlling the rotating light could harm the landmark’s historic character.
BBC News NI have asked for a comment from The Commissioners of Irish Lights, who operate the lighthouse.
Eileen Peters from the Lecale Lightkeepers said it would be a “terrific loss of the intangible and industrial heritage if it is changed”.
She told the BBC’s Good Morning Ulster Programme that the lighthouse currently produces a “beautiful” and “reassuring beam” that she said an LED “cannot produce”.
She said that the current cost of running the light was 84 pence per night.
“I think for a light that has a range of up to 27 miles and is constantly lit at night, that’s pretty good value.”
She said that the lens sits in a “pure form of mercury… [that] does not evaporate easily”.
“And it is only the vapours of that sort of mercury that can be dangerous if inhaled for any length of time.”
Newry, Mourne and Down District Council has received 66 complaints about a listed planning application from the Commissioners of Irish Lights.
Getty ImagesThe lighthouse has stood in Killough for over 180 years and was used as a marker on a test run for the Titanic.
Similar planned changes to the light source proposed in 2015 were also met with opposition.
The lighthouse, which now stands about 130ft (40m) in height, has undergone many renovations since the Marquis of Downshire laid its foundation stone in 1839.
In 1875, the main light source was converted from oil to coal gas. By 1908 it was powered by vaporised paraffin and it was eventually converted to electric in 1981.
1981 was also the year that live-in lighthouse keepers were withdrawn and the building became automated, with a part-time attendant taking charge of the station.
BBC News
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