I have received from the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht a statement on the funding of the Ulster Canal; I reproduce it here.
This statement seems to me to be more forthright than statements from DAHG’s predecessor department, which is something I welcome, and so I reproduce it without comment. I will, in a few days, offer some thoughts on the canal’s prospects.
Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish waterways general, Operations, Politics, Restoration and rebuilding, Tourism, Ulster Canal, waterways, Waterways management
Tagged budget, canal, Clones, department of arts heritage and the gaeltacht, Department of Community Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs, Erne, Ireland, Jimmy Deenihan, lock, lost, Lough Neagh, Operations, Sinn Fein, Ulster Canal, waterways, Waterways Ireland
The Mid-West Regional Authority is seeking tenders for developing a “Signage Audit & Strategy for the Lough Derg Destination Area”.
The strategy is to cover
the Lough Derg Destination Area from Portumna to Ballina/Killaloe including the major settlements within this boundary incorporating both sides of Lough Derg ….
It involves auditing existing signposts within three miles of Lough Derg, consulting “key stakeholders” and developing a new signposting plan for the region. The new signage is to guide visitors to and through the Lough Derg Destination Area, to benefit the “local host community” and to provide a “comprehensive, branded, co-ordinated signage strategy for the Lough Derg Destination Area which will also inform and direct signage in the future”.
Posted in Ashore, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish waterways general, Natural heritage, Non-waterway, Operations, People, Politics, Scenery, Tourism, waterways, Waterways management
Tagged Clare, destination area, Ireland, Limerick, Lough Derg, Mid-West Regional Authority, Shannon, sign, signage, Tipperary, tourism, waterways
A prison van got stuck under the Blundell Aqueduct on the Long (18.5-mile) Level of the Grand Canal this afternoon.
The Blundell Aqueduct
The prisoners were no doubt undertaking a waterways tour, taking in the Edenderry Branch, the Main Line and the Barrow Line (at Rathangan).
Drawings now uploaded. Much more activity in these than in the Lough Ree equivalents, with steamers towing barges, turf boats, the surveyors’ cutter and other excitements.
Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Charles Wye Williams, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Irish waterways general, Natural heritage, Operations, People, Politics, Scenery, Sources, Steamers, The cattle trade, The turf trade, Tourism, waterways, Waterways management
Tagged Admiralty, Beechey, boats, Charles Wye Williams, chart, Clare, cutter, drawing, Grand Canal, Holy Island, hydrographic, Ireland, Killaloe, Lady Lansdowne, Limerick, Lough Derg, Nutgrove, Operations, quay, Shannon, survey, turf, vessels, waterways, Williamstown, Wolfe, workboat
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.
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
Here is a page showing eight of the drawings made by Commander Wolfe RN and Lieutenant Beechey RN while surveying Lough Ree in 1837.
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
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?
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
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.
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
Irish waterways history 