He did not mean to deny the fitness of the [Shannon] Commissioners to execute the task which had devolved upon them, but he considered that five engineers of such eminence as those named in the Commission were too many to appoint for such a purpose, and the only result to be looked for would be that some plan of great magnificence and grandeur would be suggested, which the House of Commons would never feel itself authorised to grant money to execute, and then the projected improvement of the river would be altogether dropped and lost sight of.
Lord Clements, House of Commons 17 February 1836
Irish waterways history 