The provision of high-quality, smart and energy-efficient public lighting enhances people’s experience of the City and their sense of place, safety and security. Artificial light provides valuable benefits to society, including through extending opportunities for sport and recreation, and can be essential to a new development.

Light pollution can arise when external lighting is poorly designed and/or managed, leading to inappropriate or unwanted light spillage, sky glow and glare. This can have negative impacts on general amenities and wildlife.

Lighting of external areas and of buildings should be designed to minimise the impact on protected species, such as light-sensitive bat species, in accordance with best practice and industry standards, the Technical Guidance Note on Biodiversity for Development Management in Dublin City (DCC 2021) and the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) Bat Mitigation Guidelines for Ireland (2006).

Lighting fixtures should provide only the amount of light necessary and should shield the light given out so as to avoid creating glare or emitting light above a horizontal plane.

The Council will ensure that public lighting is appropriately and sensitively designed in order to balance the requirement for adequate lighting with safety, amenity and environmental considerations.