Initial Irish light pollution measurements and a new Sky Quality Meter-based data logger

In the Celtic Tiger years, Ireland underwent an explosive growth in housing and an increase in light pollution, nationally. We outline work undertaken towards the first ever ground-based survey of light pollution in the island of Ireland and illustrate this with some representative data taken between 2009 and the present. The aim of our work is to establish a database to serve as a reference to monitor future changes, to compare with in-orbit measurements, to study the potential impact on the environment and to permit the calculation of the effects of future changes in lighting usage and patterns. We also report the development of a microcontroller-based data-logging instrument based on a Unihedron Sky Quality Meter-LR detector, which can be used by amateurs or can serve as a stand-alone instrument for night-sky brightness surveys.