I would be grateful if you could explain why any government in its right mind would restore the Longford branch of the Royal Canal given that (a) canal traffic in Ireland is so small as to be insignificant, (b) the upkeep of the Royal’s main line is causing severe budgetary strain and (c) the Irish hire boat industry is in decline.
If you have conducted any analyses of the costs and benefits of such restoration, I would be grateful if you would publish them.
bjg
Note: Mr Bannon is a Fine Gael TD. But that’s no excuse.
Irish waterways history 
Many thanks for that Brian – details of the sale of the harbour by CIE to Longford UDC in the response have been duly noted and added to my IH database (ultimately the backbone of industrialheritageireland.info).
They could at least restore something in Northern Ireland first! So far the “cross border agency” aspect of Waterways Ireland does not really seem to have crossed, er, the border.
You’ve got the HQ. What more do you want? bjg
navigable waterways…? :)
The Erne; the Lower Bann; some of the Shannon–Erne Waterway. Anyway, unionists may not want Waterways Ireland interfering with unionist waterways like the Lagan: we must have parity of esteem. bjg