Category Archives: Foreign parts

The 14′ liveaboard

Posted on Friday 7 December 2012 | Leave a comment

Link.

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Posted in Economic activities, Extant waterways, Foreign parts, waterways

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Shannon hire business

Posted on Friday 7 December 2012 | Leave a comment

Recorded lock and bridge passages for the first ten months of the year.

Shannon hire trade 2003–2012

Shannon hire trade 2003–2012

I’ve used the first ten months because so far I have 2012 figures for only the first ten months. In previous years, only once did the number of hire passages in November and December exceed 100, so the total for any year is not very different from that for ten months.

I would like to know why there has been such a long decline.

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Posted in Economic activities, Extant waterways, Foreign parts, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Irish waterways general, Operations, People, Shannon, Tourism, Water sports activities, waterways

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More budget

Posted on Wednesday 5 December 2012 | 1 comment

Here’s a fun bit from the bumpf pile about the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Waterways Ireland’s parent department in roI:

From the Expenditure Report 2013 Part 1

From the Expenditure Report 2013 Part 1

As last year, waterways exist only in the context of northsouthery, which itself is the lowest of DAHG’s priorities. The interesting thing is that DAHG is having its expenditure ceiling raised by €2.2 million, but it’s not going to waterways or even to northsouthery.

Culture for Angela

Culture for Angela

So we’re going to be forcing unfortunate EU leaders to sit through plays and such. But hold on: is there a staging of An Béal Bocht available?

At least the money is not going on the Ghastly Gathering.

Anyway, there will be lots of unspecified savings to compensate, like these:

Sauve qui peut

Sauve qui peut

The two right-hand columns are headed Savings in 2013 and Full Year Savings.

And more to come:

Tomorrow, tomorrow ....

Tomorrow, tomorrow ….

Finally, here’s a bit from the MinFin:

From Michael Noonan's Financial Statement

From Michael Noonan’s Financial Statement

Wouldn’t it be nice if he took the opportunity to abolish green diesel altogether as part of the scheme?

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Posted in Ashore, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Foreign parts, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Operations, People, Politics, Sources, Tourism, waterways, Waterways management

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Budget

Posted on Wednesday 5 December 2012 | 2 comments

Vast wodges of bumpf from the government’s budget site, with non-searchable PDFs, god rot ’em. An initial look suggests these points:

  • the Dept of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht’s total allocation to northsouthery, which includes waterways, will be down 6% next year
  • current spending on northsouthery will be down from €38 244 000 to €36 178 000. Waterways Ireland gets the biggest wodge of that, about 60% [see my comment last year] in 2011; I guess that the cuts will be shared pro rata, but I can’t be sure
  • WI’s capital expenditure allocation will be reduced from €4 500 000 to €4 071 000, which may go towards shovels for thon sheugh
  • decisions on northsouthery have to be agreed by the NSMC [Irish government and NI executive].

More as I plough the pile, but the summary (to nobody’s surprise) is less spending on waterways. Maybe Éanna should have pushed ….

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

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Harry Arnold …

Posted on Monday 3 December 2012 | Leave a comment

… wins prestigious competition!

Harry Arnold has won the Irish Waterways History Christmas Caption Competition and the magnificent prize of a glass of something. “I’m over the moon,” said the excited winner: “it’s just as good as winning the lottery.”

The competition organisers dismissed rumours that they favoured overseas contestants as they would be less likely to be able to collect their prizes. “Quod scripsi, scripsi,” they said, “and our word is our bond.”

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Posted in Foreign parts, Irish waterways general, People, Waterways management

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WI pay 2

Posted on Thursday 29 November 2012 | Leave a comment

In an earlier posting I provided this extract from WI’s accounts to 31 December 2010:

WI salaries

The same message appears in the annual reports for 2009, 2008, 2007 and 2006. However, back in 2005 there was a different message:

WI pay 2005

 

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Posted in Economic activities, Foreign parts, Ireland, Operations, People, waterways, Waterways management

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WI and the tooth fairy

Posted on Thursday 29 November 2012 | 5 comments

There is a slightly disturbing item in WI’s 2010 accounts [PDF]:

1.5 Deferred Pension Funding

In accordance with accounting practice for  non-commercial State bodies in the Republic of Ireland, Waterways Ireland recognises an asset representing resources to be made available by the UK and Irish Exchequers for the unfunded deferred liability for pensions on the basis of a number of past events. These events include the statutory backing for the superannuation schemes, and the policy and practice in relation to funding public service pensions in both
jurisdictions including the annual estimates  process. While there is no formal agreement and therefore no guarantee regarding these specific amounts with the funding bodies, Waterways Ireland has no evidence that this funding policy will not continue to progressively meet this amount in accordance with current practice. This treatment is inconsistent with  accounting practice for UK Non-Departmental Bodies, where, due to the absence of a formal guarantee, a funding liability is not recognised until the commitment falls due.

IANAA, but an absence of evidence for the non-existence of the tooth fairy would not convince me that it does exist. I suppose it’s the same for any other unfunded pension scheme, and (unlike the UK practice) at least acknowledges the size of the problem, but it’s not exactly reassuring, either to taxpayers or to future pensioners. If I’ve misunderstood it, perhaps some kindly accountant will correct me.

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Posted in Ashore, Economic activities, Foreign parts, Ireland, Operations, People, Politics, Waterways management

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WI pay

Posted on Thursday 29 November 2012 | 1 comment

In my post about WI finances I referred to Robin Evans, chief executive of the Canal & River Trust, which runs many waterways in England and Wales. A commenter mentioned Evans’s salary. Here is what WI’s Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2010 [PDF] says about the salaries of senior WI managers.

WI salaries

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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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WI finances

Posted on Tuesday 27 November 2012 | 7 comments

Robin Evans, chief executive of the Canal & River Trust, was interviewed in the December 2012 issue of Waterways World. CART, a charitable trust, has taken over from British Waterways in England and Wales, but not in Scotland.

Robin Evans pointed out in the interview that, whereas waterways in Scotland get 98% of their funding from the state, CART’s English and Welsh waterways get only 35%. Amongst other things, CART is seeking donations and getting people to volunteer as lockkeepers and in other roles.

I’ll bet the Irish government is looking on with interest.

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Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Foreign parts, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish waterways general, Natural heritage, Non-waterway, Operations, People, Politics, Restoration and rebuilding, Scenery, Sources, waterways, Waterways management

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WI commercial operating licences

Posted on Friday 16 November 2012 | 2 comments

It’s getting hard to keep up with the amount of new regulatory information Waterways Ireland is producing (not that I’m complaining: it’s good that (a) systems exist and (b) information be made public). Today it has put up a page about commercial operating licences with downloadable PDFs for new applicants and for renewals.

WI says that

Waterways Ireland will give consideration to applications for permission to carry on commercial  operations on the waterways which would serve to encourage their use and contribute towards a vibrant waterway environment.

But getting a new licence is not easy. As well as describing the proposed business, you have to have registered the boat with WI and got a Passenger Certificate for from the Marine Surveyor’s office of the Department of Transport (which ain’t easy). If you want to sell alcohol, you have to have a Passenger Vessel
Licence from the Revenue Commissioners.

You have to provide a copy of your insurance policy:

Waterways Ireland requires that vessels carrying passengers hold adequate levels of insurance and appropriately indemnifies [sic] Waterways Ireland […].

And after that you have to show that your business has a chance of surviving:

Waterways Ireland is required to satisfy itself of the financial and economic standing of entities with whom it proposes to contract. In order to make this assessment, please provide relevant information such as recent accounts or Business Plan (including resources, financing, programme for delivery, target market, etc.).

And you have to supply a current Tax Clearance Certificate.

It seems that folk without capital (including working capital) need not apply.

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Posted in Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Foreign parts, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Operations, Shannon, Sources, Tourism, waterways, Waterways management

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