Category Archives: Foreign parts

The Washington gandalow

Posted on Friday 12 July 2013 | Leave a comment

See here.

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Posted in Built heritage, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Foreign parts, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Restoration and rebuilding, Shannon, shannon estuary, The fishing trade, waterways

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The Ulster Orangeway

Posted on Monday 8 July 2013 | 2 comments

I am happy to say that the ineffable Professor Billy McWilliams [Visitin’ Lekturer at the Ulster Scots School o’ Dancin’, Ballymena] has provided the answer to one of WI’s problems. I have pointed out that a walking route along the Clones Sheugh would be much cheaper than a restored canal; Professor McWilliams has shown how to make such a route more attractive to members of the Ulster-Scots Community. WI could adopt his idea from Comber and declare the route to be the Ulster Orangeway.

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Posted in Ashore, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Foreign parts, Forgotten navigations, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Non-waterway, Operations, Politics, Restoration and rebuilding, Tourism, Ulster Canal, Water sports activities, waterways, Waterways management

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The Exchequer Bill Loan Commission

Posted on Thursday 27 June 2013 | Leave a comment

I noted the other day that the North South Ministerial Council’s inland waterways meeting discussed how it might get the Irish government off the hook of its rash promise to fund the Clones Sheugh. It noted that:

[…] sponsor departments have agreed to examine the potential social benefits and leveraged funding opportunities in that context.

The interesting point is that the blasted thing wonderful investment opportunity was originally funded, using the same excuse, by a loan from the Exchequer Bill Loan Commission set up under the Poor Employment Act 1817. John Strettell Brickwood, Secretary to the Exchequer Loan Commissioners for Public Works [sic], said* that the Commission’s first £1.5 million was allocated in 1817 and that by 1835 £5.5 million had been advanced.

Of that, £200,000 (at 3¼% interest) was allocated to Ireland in 1827 and the Ulster Canal was allocated £120,000 of that; it drew down £40,000 in 1833 and the same again in 1835. Mr Blackwood said that the Ulster Canal money was issued under an express act of parliament, leaving the commissioners no discretion. There would be no repayment until the canal was complete, with the interest and principal payable only from the prospective income.

Isn’t economic development wonderful?

* First and Second Reports from the Select Committee appointed to inquire into the amount of advances made by the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland with the Minutes of Evidence, Appendix and Index Ordered, by the House of Commons, to be Printed, 26 June and 27 August 1835

 

 

 

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Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Charles Wye Williams, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Foreign parts, Forgotten navigations, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Non-waterway, People, Politics, Restoration and rebuilding, Sources, Tourism, Ulster Canal, waterways, Waterways management

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News from the NSMC

Posted on Monday 24 June 2013 | 1 comment

The communiqué from the North South Ministerial Council inland waterways meeting held on 19 June 2013 is here. This is my selection of the interesting bits.

The NSMC got reports on WI’s additional moorings (368m during some unspecified period), sponsorship programme, maintenance (“with 99.8% of waterways remaining open during the month of April”), publications (food guide and What’s On 2013) and website.

The WI business plan for 2012 was approved, which seems a bit pointless in the middle of 2013. A budget of €31.15m (£27.10m) was approved for an unspecified year. Then there’s this oddity:

5. They also noted progress on the development of the 2013 Business Plan and budget. Following approval by Sponsor Departments and Finance Ministers the plan will be brought forward for approval at a future NSMC meeting.

This is the middle of 2013. The next NSMC inland waterways meeting will be held in September 2013. What is the point of approving the budget and business plan for 2013 three quarters of the way through the year?

And another point: why is it taking so long? My guess is that, if things were running smoothly, and allocations were easy, the work would have been finished by now, so I deduce that WI’s budget is under pressure, with consequences for its future activity and thus its business plan.

The NSMC “noted” WI’s annual report and draft accounts for 2012; they’re not on its website, so presumably someone else has to note them as well before they can be published.

The unfortunate Bastables seeking treasure to pay for the Clones Sheugh had their second meeting in May 2013 (their first was in September 2012). In the absence of any GB, and with half-sovereigns rather scarce, the Bastables have adopted the “Lo! the poor Indian” strategy:

[…] sponsor departments have agreed to examine the potential social benefits and leveraged funding opportunities in that context.

The NSMC decided that Waterways Ireland won’t have a Board but will think about governance again some time. And it appointed Dawn Livingstone as WI CEO.

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

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Dawn Livingstone …

Posted on Monday 24 June 2013 | 2 comments

… is to be the new CEO of Waterways Ireland:

Ministers appointed Dawn Livingstone to the post of Chief Executive of Waterways Ireland for a seven year contract, with effect from 29 July 2013 or the earliest possible date thereafter.

It will be interesting to have a non-engineer running the shop.

 

 

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Posted in Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Foreign parts, Ireland, Irish waterways general, Operations, People, Politics, waterways, Waterways management

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O say can you see …

Posted on Friday 21 June 2013 | Leave a comment

… any sign of the next North South Ministerial Council inland waterways meeting? I’m interested because (apart from exciting news about the Clones Sheugh) it might announce the appointment of the new CEO of Waterways Ireland. The communiqué issued after the last meeting said the next would be in summer 2013 (assuming there is one).

I asked the press offices of Waterways Ireland, the Council itself and the two departments (DAHG and DCAL) but nobody has responded. I don’t know why the dates of meetings should be kept secret.

Incidentally, I can see the search terms that visitors to this site have used. Over the past week there have been several searches that included the term “waterways ireland” plus the name of a senior WI manager. Two such managers were sought; Google gives almost 1000 returns for one of them but less than fifty for the other.

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Posted in Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Foreign parts, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Irish waterways general, Operations, People, Politics, Restoration and rebuilding, Sources, Ulster Canal, Water sports activities, waterways, Waterways management, Weather

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Hunt the lock

Posted on Tuesday 18 June 2013 | Leave a comment

The Hunt Museum in Limerick is chiefly famous for its being accommodated in the former Custom House, which was designed by Davis Dukart [there are many variants of the spelling] who installed dry hurries on Dukart’s Canal, built in the eighteenth century to link the Drumglass coalfield to the town of Coalisland and thence to Lough Neagh, the Newry Canal and Dublin.

At the moment the Custom House has a large banner draped over it, with a picture of a canal lock on it. This is to advertise an exhibition of paintings collected by a bank. Unfortunately there is very little information about the collection on the museum’s website, so I can’t say whether the ratio of important  pics (showing canals, boats etc) to dross is high enough to make a visit worthwhile.

 

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Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Foreign parts, Forgotten navigations, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Non-waterway, People, waterways, Waterways management

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Elfinsafety and DUKWs

Posted on Sunday 16 June 2013 | 4 comments

In October 2011 I was in Liverpool, where I took a couple of photos of DUKWs taking trippers around the still waters of the no-longer-used docks.

DUKW in the Salthouse Dock, Liverpool

DUKW in the Salthouse Dock, Liverpool

DUKWing under the bridge into the Albert Dock, Liverpool

DUKWing under the bridge into the Albert Dock, Liverpool

In Dublin, Viking Splash offers similar tours, with the regrettable addition of horned helmets, as not worn by Vikings. The Dublin operation seems to have added two other items that were not discernible on the Liverpool DUKW.

VikingSplash DUKW Thor 18_resize

Extra buoyancy on the Dublin DUKWs

First, before they enter the water at Grand Canal Dock, Ringsend, the DUKWs are fitted with extra buoyancy in cylinders that slide into racks along their sides. I saw the VikingSplash crew removing the cylinders from the yellow DUKW; it took only a couple of minutes, and I presume that it didn’t take much longer to put the cylinders on.

VikingSplash DUKW Thor 25_resize

Buoyancy aids being collected after the trip around the dock

Second, the Dublin passengers are issued with buoyancy aids before they take to the water. I can’t see any buoyancy aids on the Liverpool passengers, although it’s possible that they are out of camera shot.

Sometimes we complain about extra health and safety (which often means insurance) requirements. Then something like this happens: a yellow DUKW sank yesterday in Liverpool — for the second time this year. I don’t know whether the precautions taken in Dublin would have averted the accident or enhanced the safety of the passengers but it does suggest that the Maritime Safety Directorate bods in Dublin do have a point.

Addendum: the speaker on this clip says that passengers began putting on buoyancy aids, which suggests that aids were issued but not worn. Given how quickly the vessel sank, and how constricted the space inside is, it seems to me that passengers should wear their buoyancy aids throughout the waterborne trip.

Later: scary video.

Later still: a BBC story saying that a tyre may have caused the problem, the Liverpool mayor’s opinion (and some good photos) and the firm going into administration.

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Posted in Ashore, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Foreign parts, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Operations, People, Tourism, Water sports activities, waterways

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Palindrome

Posted on Tuesday 11 June 2013 | 4 comments

“A man, a plan, a canal — Panama!”, said Leigh Mercer.

The man with the plan this time is Daniel Ortega, President of Nicaragua, who wants to build a second Atlantic–Pacific canal, capable of taking ships of greater capacity than the Panamax limits. The OilPrice story says that the canal would be more than three times as long as the Panama, with (if I understand it correctly) 130 miles of cut and 50 in Lake Nicaragua:

[…] the proposed canal could take 11 years to build, cost $40 billion and require digging roughly 130 miles of channel.

[…] the canal’s proposed locks will require 1.7 billion gallons of water per day, given that the channel will be 200 feet deep in places.

Mr Ortega hopes that China will fund the construction, which suggests that he is rather more optimistic about the Chinese economy than some others are. However, it is a thought, and one that the Inter-Agency Group on the Ulster Canal might wish to consider.

This week’s quiz: which ocean lies at the western end of the Panama Canal?

 

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Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Foreign parts, Ireland, Operations, People, Politics, Sea, waterways

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No money for sheughs …

Posted on Wednesday 5 June 2013 | Leave a comment

… in the government’s new €150 million election manif exchequer works programme 2013–2014, announced today. Maybe it will be in the “New PPP [public–private partnership, I presume] Pipeline”, but I note that

The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform will be engaging with his colleagues the Minister for Education and Skills and the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport in order to bring forward these additional PPPs.

No mention of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, thus depriving keen investors of the opportunity of making a profitable return on an investment in the Clones Sheugh.

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Posted in Ashore, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Foreign parts, Forgotten navigations, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Non-waterway, Politics, Restoration and rebuilding, Ulster Canal, waterways, Waterways management

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