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
The search term most often used to find this site is Ardnacrusha, which scores 1655, almost twice as many as the next term, the generic Waterways (875). But other variants occur too: Ardnacrusha Lock is at position 3 (768), Ardnacrusha power station 18 (274), ESB Ardnacrusha 21 (225), Ardnacrusha ESB 33 (169), Ard na Crusha 43 (140), Ardnacrusha hydroelectric power station 58 (120), Ardnacrusha dam 86 (89); Parteen Weir is at 14 (369).
Thus I deduce that Ardnacrusha is by far the most popular artefact on Irish inland waterways.
Here is the full top twenty.
1 Ardnacrusha 1,655
2 Waterways 875
3 Ardnacrusha lock 768
4 Wooden boat 728
5 Skies 613
6 Athlone 573
7 Strancally castle 483
8 Lough Erne 480
9 Homemade boat 460
10 Wooden boats 453
11 Irish waterways history 451
12 Boats 448
13 Irish waterways 393
14 Parteen Weir 369
15 Flying Fifteen 344
16 Homemade boats 333
17 Pioner Multi 301
18 Ardnacrusha power station 274
19 Johnstown Co Kilkenny 247
20 Ormond Castle 237
Most hits on this site come from searches rather than links.
Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish waterways general, Non-waterway, Operations, Shannon, waterways, Waterways management
Tagged Ardnacrusha, canal, Clare, ESB, Ireland, Killaloe, Limerick, lock, Operations, Shannon, waterways
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.
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
Tagged budget, canal, canal & river trust, charitable trust, department of arts heritage and the gaeltacht, donation, Erne, finance, Ireland, Operations, Robin Evans, Shannon, volunteer, waterways, Waterways Ireland
WI at work in Killaloe Novemebr 2012.
Old crane being painted
The Marindus weedspraying pontoon. This Marindus may be Marindus Engineering Ltd of Kilmore Quay, Co Wexford
Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Charles Wye Williams, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Forgotten navigations, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Irish waterways general, Operations, Restoration and rebuilding, Shannon, waterways, Waterways management, Weather
Tagged boats, bridge, canal, Clare, crane, ESB, flow, Ireland, Killaloe, lock, Lough Derg, Marindus, Operations, paint, Shannon, vessels, waterways, Waterways Ireland, weed, workboat
In April 2012 I wrote about the proposed supply of water from Lough Ennell to the Royal Canal. I said that
[…] the Lough Ennell proposal had to go to An Bord Pleanála. At any rate, two applications had to be made, one for the water abstraction and the other for the physical works. In practice, the two are being handled as one.
An Bord Pleanála asked Westmeath County Council for some more information; that has now been supplied and a decision is expected by 11 June 2012.
I have just checked An Bord Pleanála’s website for the two applications PW3005 (lodged 9 December 2011) and JA0030 (lodged 7 October 2011); both say:
Proposed decision date not available at this time.
I do not know why decisions are taking so long.
Posted in Drainage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Ireland, Irish waterways general, Natural heritage, Non-waterway, Operations, Politics, Restoration and rebuilding, Sources, Tourism, waterways, Waterways management, Weather
Tagged An Bord Pleanála, boats, bridge, canal, Ireland, Lough Ennell, Lough Owel, Operations, Royal Canal, water level, water supply, waterways, Waterways Ireland, Westmeath County Council
Big it up for the Lands Branch (who knew?) of the Dept of Ag, which responded immesiately to tell me that the fishing rights in my garden are owned by the Central Fisheries Board, which is called something else these days, so we know it’s much more efficient.
If only the DeptAg folk in charge of Section 46 of the Merchant Shipping (Investigation of Marine Casualties) Act 2000 were as quick to respond as their Lands Branch colleagues.
Posted in Ashore, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Ireland, Irish waterways general, Natural heritage, Non-waterway, Operations, Politics, Scenery, Shannon, The fishing trade, waterways, Waterways management, Weather
Tagged climate change, deeds, fishing rights, global warming, inland fisheries ireland
… in June 2013? Maybe they’re coming to commit corporate golf …. I presume there will be hot and cold running security men, missiles, helicopters, gunboats ….
Posted in Ashore, Economic activities, Extant waterways, Foreign parts, Ireland, Irish waterways general, Operations, People, Politics, Tourism, waterways
Tagged boats, Enniskillen, Erne, Fermanagh, G8, Ireland, Northern Ireland, security, vessels, waterways
Irish waterways history 