Waterways Ireland has been drafting new bye-laws for some years now. In accordance with what it calls “best practice” (and what others might call “what suits it”), it has recently issued a draft to the elect; hoi polloi need not apply for a copy.
So big it up for Westmeath County Council (and get there before WI does …).
Some things that provided a moment’s amusement for a simple mind. To be added to when material presents itself.
Some time ago I wrote three pages about the Rockville Navigation, which is linked to Grange on the Carnadoe Waters in Co Roscommon.
I recently revisited the area. I was horrified, first, to find that the bridge — built in June 1765 — has been severely damaged, with large chunks of masonry in the cut beneath and with a crude wooden repair. How many bridges of that age are there in Co Roscommon? How many that are associated with one of the oldest navigations in the country? Please, someone, restore the bridge!
Damage to the bridge
Anyway, the more pleasant part of the day was the four hours that we spend descending, by dinghy and kayak, from the bridge to Grange. The route took us through artificial cuts, small lakes and sections of river, with very clear water and an extraordinary abundance of vegetation. This route would have been easily navigated by large wooden cots or similar boats, and it should be developed today as a canoe-and-small-boat trail. Even with very low water levels, we had no real problems, although someone has to end up with wet feet …. Here is an account of the trip.
Wading in the water
Posted in Extant waterways, Forgotten navigations, Industrial heritage, Irish waterways general, Scenery, The turf trade, Weather
Tagged Bellanagrange, Bellavahan, boats, bridge, canal, Cloonahee, Clooncraff, Derreen, Dooneen, Elphin, flow, Grange, Hillstreet, Ireland, Ireland waterways rockville, Lloyd, lost, Malet, Nablahy, quay, Roscommon, Shannon, Silver Eel, turf, vessels, water level, waterways
The Irish Department of Finance has today (26 July 2010) published Infrastructure Investment Priorities 2010-2016: A Financial Framework. The document begins:
This Review of capital investment sets out infrastructure investment priorities for the years 2010-2016 and in doing so fullfills the requirement to publish a revised set of investment priorities as pledged in the Renewed Programme for Government. The Review represents a reappraisal of the Government’s Public Capital Programme, designed to re-focus investment plans and ready the Irish economy for a return to growth. The pace and depth of the changes which have beset the national economy over 2008 and 2009 have altered the environment in which infrastructure investment takes place and challenged the assumptions on which previous investment plans were founded. It is necessary, therefore, to reassess investment priorities in light of both changes in demand for infrastructure and affordability constraints given the very challenging fiscal position.
Chapter 14 covers the Department of Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs which, along with the Northern Ireland Department of Culture, Arts & Leisure, takes an interest in the doings of Waterways Ireland, the cross-border body that runs seven inland waterways. Under 14.2 Rationale for Investment, the document says:
14.2.6 Waterways
The strategic objective of this programme is to maintain and restore Ireland’s inland waterways, providing recreational access along routes of waterways, thereby hoping to attract overseas visitors and stimulating business and regeneration in these areas.
And under 14.3 Assessment of Sectoral Capacity and Anticipated Medium-term Demand it says:
14.3.5 Waterways
This programme supports the maintenance and upgrading of existing inland waterways. As these attract tourism and support local employment, it is recommended that a level of investment continues into the medium-term. There is a Government commitment to the restoration of the Ulster Canal. Where possible, Waterways Ireland’s own resources will be used in advancing this work. In the absence of readily available exchequer funding, the sale of other assets may be considered where appropriate, subject inter alia, to value for money considerations.
The document’s overall conclusions include this:
[…] the environment in which we appraise, plan and deliver infrastructure has undergone significant transformation. These developments can be summarised as follows:
§ The challenging fiscal position means that investment on the scale previously envisaged will not be possible;
§ Similarly however, the contraction in economic activity means that there will be a lower demand for infrastructure in the economy than previously anticipated;
§ The cost of investing in infrastructure has fallen markedly and so a very high level of capital stock can be delivered from a lower level of exchequer investment; and
§ The economy is undergoing a structural transition which will have implications for the type of infrastructure required into the medium-term.These four broad considerations set the parameters in which this Review was conducted. Within this framework, the foregoing analysis has sought to identify the optimum level of investment and the sectors in which this investment will take place in order to:
§ Contribute to economic recovery;
§ Support employment;
§ Deliver important social infrastructure; and
§ Develop a low-carbon, Smart Economy.Accordingly this analysis has given rise to changing priorities in infrastructure policy.
The allocations to the Department of Community, Equality & Gaeltacht Affairs under the Public Capital Investment Programme 2010 – 2016 will be:
2010 €105 million
2011 €86 million
2012 €86 million
2013 €86 million
2014 €40 million
2015 €30 million
2016 €30 million
The Summary Public Capital Programme for 2010 showed that the Department got €133 million in 2009, of which €10 million (7.5%) went to Waterways Ireland, and was due to get €105 million in 2010, of which Waterways Ireland would get €8 million (7.6%). If the same proportion applies when the Department’s allocation is down to €30 million, Waterways Ireland will get only about €2.25 million, less than a quarter of its 2009 allocation. (Note that these figures affect only capital, not current, expenditure.)
Today’s document does not show how Waterways Ireland’s allocation will be affected. It may continue to be favoured because of a presumed contribution to the tourist industry (despite this year’s drastic fall-off in traffic on the Shannon), but even so it seems likely to suffer a major reduction in capital spending.
It is not clear what the Department of Finance intends should be done about the restoration of the Ulster Canal (the Irish government undertook to fund its restoration from Lough Erne to Clones, a short stretch that crosses the border several times). Is it saying that Waterways Ireland will receive no extra funding for the project? Is it expecting WI to sell other assets to restore the Ulster to Clones? According to the most recent set of accounts available on the WI website, those for 2007, WI had €25 million in “non-operational heritage assets”. Are they what the Department of Finance calls “Waterways Ireland’s own resources”? What is there that WI could sell to pay for the Ulster?
This is, I think, the end of a golden era for spending on the Irish waterways. And I will be very surprised if the Ulster Canal is reopened within my lifetime.
This photo shows an eel spear from the National Folklife Collection‘s overflow material, stored in the former “reformatory” at Daingean, on the Grand Canal in Co Offaly. There were many spears there, with different designs from different rivers. This one, to judge from the label underneath it, came from the extraordinarily prolific and observant Dr A E J Went.
If you look at pretty well any Irish river on the 1840s Ordnance Survey map (here’s the Shannon at Killaloe; switch to Historic 6″ if necessary), or indeed on the 1900s map (same URL but switch to Historic 25″), you’ll find evidence of eel weirs. Ireland’s shortest canal was built to allow the eel-boats of Anthony Mackey’s fleet to reach the trains at Banagher.
But the European eel is a “critically endangered species” and all eel fishing has been banned in Ireland. As far as I know, though, the Lough Neagh fishery, in Northern Ireland, continues.
The Electricity Supply Board (ESB) is in charge of the eel fishery on the River Shannon. It has nets and a storage unit (packing station) at Killaloe and, until recently, it also had nets at Clonlara on the headrace supplying the power station at Ardnacrusha; the Clonlara nets have just been removed. This page is about the Clonlara and Killaloe operations, but includes a look at an eel survey conducted for the ESB in 2008, before eel fishing was banned in Ireland. The aim now is to make it easy for eels to reach the sea to reproduce, and that sometimes involves “trap and transport”: catching the eels and moving them past obstacles, whether on their way to the sea or, for the young glass eels, on their way upriver.
The photos on this page are a tribute to what was an important activity on the Shannon. I hope that the European eel stocks can recover.
Posted in Economic activities, Extant waterways, Industrial heritage, Irish inland waterways vessels, Irish waterways general, Operations, The fishing trade
Tagged anguilla anguilla, Ballina, boats, bridge, canal, Castleconnell, Clare, clonlara, eel weir, eels, ESB, floods, flow, Ireland, Killaloe, Limerick, Montpelier, net, O'Briensbridge, Operations, packing station, Shannon, trap and transfer, vessels, walkway
My dry docks overview page had a bad link in it, which was my fault, but I hope that’s now fixed as the Shannon Harbour dry docks
34B in the dock
page is now up. Comments, corrections and suggestions for improvements and additions will be welcome.
Posted in Extant waterways, Industrial heritage, Irish inland waterways vessels, Irish waterways general, Operations
Tagged 34B, 59M, acro, boats, bridge, canal, dry dock, gate, Grand Canal, grille, Ireland, Knocknagow, lock, loo, Operations, paddle, prop, rack, Shannon, sluice, Swaine, vessels, waterways, Waterways Ireland, winch
Irish waterways history 