Limerick’s SmarterTravel initiative aims to promote cycling, walking, car sharing and public transport. It has a little leaflet (I can’t find a downloadable version) describing five walking and cycling routes and including information on bus routes, a cycle to work scheme and car sharing.
One of the cycling and walking routes is along the towing path of the Limerick Navigation from Limerick to Plassey. It is described thus:
The Tow Path was part of the Grand Canal system stretching to Dublin and was used by the Guinness brewery to bring stout to Limerick.
The towing-path was not part of “the Grand Canal system”, although I suppose it might be described as a facility used by the Grand Canal Company. The Park Canal in Limerick, and the towing-path on the river navigation to Plassey, were not built or owned by the Grand Canal Company; they were part of the independent Limerick Navigation until subsumed into the Shannon Navigation in the 1840s. The Grand Canal Company was permitted to use its vessels on the navigation when it began carrying cargoes, which it did for, amongst others, Guinness; Guinness itself did not own or operate boats on the Shannon Navigation or the Limerick Navigation.
Irish waterways history 