Category Archives: Engineering and construction

Plot 8 has been NAMAed

Posted on Saturday 26 November 2011 | Leave a comment

The development of the Plot 8 site at the Grand Canal Docks, Ringsend, was to be the most valuable of three sites to be sold by Waterways Ireland, with Craggy Island hoping to use the proceeds to fund the Ulster Canal. The DDDA’s interest in Plot 8 has now passed to NAMA.

I provided background information from the Oireachtas Committee of Public Accounts here; the DDDA announcement is here but NAMA, alas, has no information at the moment.

DDDA had withdrawn permission for IWAI Dublin Branch to work on the graving docks at the site.

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Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Operations, People, Politics, Restoration and rebuilding, Ulster Canal

Tagged canal, Craggy Island, DDDA, Department of Community Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs, Dublin, Erne, Grand Canal, Ireland, lock, Lough Neagh, NAMA, Operations, quay, U2, Ulster Canal, waterways, Waterways Ireland

Round towers on islands …

Posted on Wednesday 23 November 2011 | Leave a comment

… their true origins revealed (up to a point, Lord Copper).

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Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Ireland, People, Scenery, Sources, Tourism, waterways

Tagged Brahman, Buddhist, Devenish, Erne, Hindu, Holy Island, Ireland, Kali, lingam, Lough Derg, Lough Neagh, phallus, Ram's Island, round tower, Shannon, Shiva, Siva, waterways

Lough Ree 1837

Posted on Wednesday 23 November 2011 | Leave a comment

Here is a page showing eight of the drawings made by Commander Wolfe RN and Lieutenant Beechey RN while surveying Lough Ree in 1837.

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Posted in Built heritage, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Operations, People, Scenery, waterways, Waterways management

Tagged 1837, Admiralty, Beechey, boats, chart, Ireland, Lough Ree, Operations, Shannon, survey, waterways, Wolfe

Progress is progressing on the Ulster Canal (it says here)

Posted on Tuesday 22 November 2011 | Leave a comment

The Joint Communiqué from the last Plenary Meeting of the North/South Ministerial Council meeting (18 November 2011) can now be read or downloaded (PDF) from the NSMC website. It has much to say about the Ulster Canal:

Progress on the Ulster Canal is progressing incrementally with the planning process ongoing.

Er … right. That’s it, then. Progress is progressing, eh? Well, I never.

We’ve now had an Inland Waterways Sectoral Meeting (12 October 2011) and a Plenary Meeting, neither of which has said anything about how (or whether) the canal to Clones is to be funded. Why not? Shouldn’t they show us the money?

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Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Foreign parts, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish waterways general, Politics, Restoration and rebuilding, Ulster Canal, waterways, Waterways management

Tagged canal, Clones, department of arts heritage and the gaeltacht, Department of Community Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs, Erne, Ireland, Lough Neagh, North South Ministerial Council, Ulster Canal, Waterways Ireland

NI Programme for Government

Posted on Thursday 17 November 2011 | Leave a comment

The Northern Ireland Executive’s Programme for Government (PDF) is available for download here. The accompanying statement to the Northern Ireland Assembly by the First Minister and deputy First Minister (MW Word .docx) is downloadable here and can also be read on the Assembly’s website here.

There is no mention of waterways or canals in either document.

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Posted in Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Foreign parts, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish waterways general, Non-waterway, Operations, Politics, Restoration and rebuilding, Tourism, Ulster Canal, waterways, Waterways management

Tagged Erne, Lough Neagh, Northern Ireland Assembly, Northern Ireland Executive, Ulster Canal, waterways, Waterways Ireland

NSMC

Posted on Thursday 17 November 2011 | Leave a comment

The Irish Times says that there is to be a meeting of the North-South Ministerial Council on Friday 18 November 2011, with the A5 road on the agenda. Perhaps there will be some news about how the proposed Clones Canal is to be funded.

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Posted in Ashore, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Forgotten navigations, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Politics, Restoration and rebuilding, Ulster Canal, Waterways management

Tagged canal, Clones, department of arts heritage and the gaeltacht, Department of Community Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs, Erne, Lough Neagh, North South Ministerial Council, northsouthery, NSMC, Ulster Canal, Waterways Ireland

The Ulster Canal

Posted on Wednesday 16 November 2011 | Leave a comment

A modest proposal here for funding the canal.

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Posted in Built heritage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Operations, Politics, Restoration and rebuilding, Ulster Canal, waterways, Waterways management

Tagged Clones, Department of Community Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs, Erne, funding, industrial heritage, Lough Neagh, Ulster Canal, waterways, Waterways Ireland

Dredging in Limerick

Posted on Tuesday 15 November 2011 | Leave a comment

The Limerick Leader has a story here.

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Posted in Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Ireland, Operations, Restoration and rebuilding, waterways, Waterways management

Tagged dredging, Ireland, Limerick, Operations, Shannon, weir

Garlic for engineers

Posted on Friday 11 November 2011 | Leave a comment

Information has arrived from the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. I have accordingly updated my page about the Ulster Canal and the Infrastructure and Capital Investment 2012-16: Medium Term Exchequer Framework.

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Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Foreign parts, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Operations, Politics, Restoration and rebuilding, Ulster Canal, Uncategorized, waterways, Waterways management

Tagged canal, Clones, department of arts heritage and the gaeltacht, Ulster Canal, Waterways Ireland

The Ulster Canal and the Irish economy

Posted on Friday 11 November 2011 | Leave a comment

The Irish government has decided that it cannot afford to pay for:

a road in the United Kingdom
some railway lines in Dublin, Meath and the west
a prison in the countryside.

But what of the Ulster Canal? It is not explicitly mentioned in the Infrastructure and Capital Investment 2012-16: Medium Term Exchequer Framework document published on 10 November 2011. It is not clear that the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht will have enough money to pay for it: here is my assessment. In the absence of explicit information from the department, I would welcome information from other sources.

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Posted in Built heritage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Foreign parts, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish waterways general, Politics, Restoration and rebuilding, Ulster Canal, waterways, Waterways management

Tagged A5, Clones, Craggy Island, department of arts heritage and the gaeltacht, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Ulster Canal, waterways, Waterways Ireland