In February 2012 Waterways Ireland published a study of the River Barrow called The Barrow Corridor Recreational, Tourism and Commercial Product Identification Study. I’ve devoted a lot of time to the document and I confess that, although I’m in favour of WI’s conducting these studies, I found this one rather disappointing. The principal problem, as I see it, is that the document just doesn’t hang together: it is not clear how the recommendations derive from the analysis. I also thought that its recommendations on navigation were weak, suggesting a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of the Barrow.
I haven’t finished putting my thoughts on the subject together because I want to do the study justice, but I have put up six pages about the report, linked from an overview page here. I need to give the navigation page a little more thought; when it’s finished I’ll link it to the overview page and mention the matter here.
Irish waterways history 