Kish Bank

The Kish Bank (Irish: Banc na Cise) is a shallow sand bank about seven miles (11 km) off the coast of Dublin, in Ireland. It is marked by the Kish Lighthouse, a landmark well known to sailors and ferry passengers passing through Dublin Bay and Dún Laoghaire harbour.

Many ships were wrecked on these shallows. The Vesper was lost in January 1876; the Norwegian MV Bolivar ran aground on the Kish Bank during a snow storm on 4 March 1947; both wrecks are frequently dived. A mailboat operated by the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company between Kingstown (later Dún Laoghaire) and Holyhead, the RMS Leinster, was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine on 10 October 1918. She went down four miles (6 km) east of the Kish Lighthouse with over 500 lives lost, the greatest single loss of life in the Irish Sea. Fifty-five wrecks are listed for the Kish Bank area at Irish Wrecks Online.

In 2000, the Department of Marine and Natural Resources awarded licenses to allow detailed studies to be carried out on the Kish and Bray Banks in relation to the construction of a large offshore wind farm. Press reports at the time suggested 100 or more wind turbines might be erected.