Marine Casualty Investigation Board report Investigation into the loss of the Sail Training Passenger Vessel STV Astrid on 24th July 2013 PDF here. Very long but, apart from the photos, the meat is in the first part. At the end you can read angry letters from Dutch authorities.
Direct link amended, but just in case here’s a link to the page on which you click to download. And in case that falls over, here’s the page listing all MCIB reports and here’s the MCIB home page.
Posted in Engineering and construction, Ireland, Operations, Safety, Sea, Water sports activities
Download the form for paying Mineral Oil Tax on green diesel used for private pleasure navigation here [PDF]. The Kingstown Blazers are relying on you to save green diesel supplies:
It may already be too late to save the present diesel supply system in Ireland, but the very least we can do is to strengthen the country’s case by paying the tax. If we don’t do that, we won’t have a leg to stand on.
How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?
If you enjoyed the account of the 1851 cot race at Plassey, you might also like to read about the 1850 regatta at Killaloe.
Posted in Canals, Charles Wye Williams, Extant waterways, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Natural heritage, Operations, People, Scenery, Shannon, Sources, Steamers, Tourism, Water sports activities, waterways, Weather
Tagged Ballyvalley, Béal Ború, boats, canal, Clare, cot, Friar's Island, Ireland, Killaloe, Kincora, Limerick, lock, Lough Derg, Pierhead, pole, quay, rapids, Shannon, steamer, vessels, Waterways Ireland
Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Canals, Charles Wye Williams, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Forgotten navigations, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Natural heritage, Non-waterway, Operations, Politics, Restoration and rebuilding, Scenery, Shannon, Sources, The fishing trade, Tourism, Water sports activities, waterways, Waterways management
Tagged Annaghbeg, Black Bridge, Blackwatr, boats, bridge, canal, Castletroy, Clare, cot, floods, flow, Ireland, Killaloe, Limerick, lock, Lough Derg, Mulcair, O'Briensbridge, Operations, Plassey, Shannon, vessels, water level, Waterways Ireland
On Tuesday morning, Mr Ounsel, of Portland near Portumna, left Killaloe at 6 o’clock, to walk down the bank of the Canal to O’Brien’s Bridge, there to meet the packet boat — he took with him a long gun for the purpose of shooting ducks. As no account could be had of him at O’Brien’s Bridge, it was supposed he fell into the river, and in the course of the day a hat, and a book belonging to him were found on the shore; there is no doubt but he has met a watery grave — to-day several boats are searching for the body.
Clonmel Herald Wednesday 3 February 1830 quoting Limerick Chronicle Saturday 30 January 1830
The Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht [who is also a Fine Gael TD for Cavan–Monaghan] spoke at the meeeting of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht on 25 November 2014. She said:
In addition to progressing North-South co-operation, my key priority is progressing the first stage of the Ulster Canal project from upper Lough Erne to Castle Saunderson, near Belturbet, County Cavan. I am working on this with the Government and other key partners, including the North-South Ministerial Council and Waterways Ireland. […]
It sounds, then, as if the minister intends to get work started on the Clones Sheugh, but only as far as Castle Saunderson, where there is a scouting establishment. The route from Quivvy Lough (location of the Quivvy Marina) is along the Finn River; the first 5.5 km of the route would be in the river and the last 8.5 km to Clones in a canal. The route to Castle Saunderson would, I imagine, require dredging and the removal of rocks as well as work on [or replacement of] Derrykerrib Bridge [I have not read all the details].
It would, of course, be faster to get there by road, but no doubt lots of people will travel from Foreign Parts for the excitement of seeing Castle Saunderson from the water and paying tribute to the memory of a stout Orangeman and founder of the Irish Unionist Alliance.
No mention of the treasure-hunting group who are to find the money, but there’s an election in the offing so money won’t be a problem. Until afterwards.
![Quivvy to Castle Saunderson [OSI ~1840]](https://irishwaterwayshistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/quivvy-to-castle-saunderson_resize.jpg)
Quivvy to Castle Saunderson [OSI ~1840]
Regarding the Ulster Canal, which stretches from upper Lough Erne to Castle Saunderson, we hope to get the project started on that section because that is the one part of the inland waterway system that has not been developed. If we get that done, the Ulster Canal will connect into Lough Neagh. That means we will have a complete network of waterways in Ireland, which is very important. It is also a cross-Border project, and there is a peace dividend in terms of that project. It is very important in terms of cross-Border relationships. It is one shovel-ready project that can be progressed.
The minister said that “a complete network of waterways in Ireland […] is very important”. She did not say why and I can think of no possible economic justification for the creation of such a “network”. Nor is it clear what the “peace dividend” is. But the phrase that evoked most terror is “shovel-ready project”, which I take to mean something that might buy votes in the next election.
The minister’s predecessor, Éamon Ó Cuív, a Fianna Fáil TD for Galway West, said:
I welcome the Minister’s continuation of the work on the Ulster canals. There was quite a bit of work done on that in my time and I was very anxious to see it progress on a step-by-step basis. I was going to bring it to Clones, I am not sure whether the place the Minister mentioned is further or nearer than that.
The minister interjected:
It is not as far as Clones. We will start it anyway and we will get it there.
And Mr Ó Cuív continued:
I take the view that even if she were to get it half a mile, we should just nibble away at it until we get it finished. It is of strategic national importance and if we could connect Coleraine, where I was the other day and where my poor car is getting mended, all the way down the coast through Lough Neagh down to Shannon and back up the canals, it would be a fantastic facility for the island. I will not be heard complaining in any way that it is in the Minister’s constituency – that just happens to be a happy coincidence in this case.
Actually, although both Quivvy Marina and Castle Saunderson are in the Free State, most of the River Finn route is in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
It seems that I must cease to speak of the Clones Sheugh: it’s Saunderson’s Sheugh. I suppose that, if reaching Castle Saunderson were enough to shut up the Shinners, who seem to be madly keen on Sheughery for some reason that is hidden from me, that might be a bargain: it would certainly be better than going all the way to Clones.
Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Canals, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Foreign parts, Forgotten navigations, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Natural heritage, Non-waterway, Operations, People, Politics, Restoration and rebuilding, Sources, Tourism, Ulster Canal, Uncategorized, Water sports activities, waterways, Waterways management
Tagged Belturbet, boats, bridge, canal, Castle Saunderson, Clones, department of arts heritage and the gaeltacht, Derrykerrib, Erne, flow, Ireland, lock, lost, Lough Neagh, Operations, Quivvy, River Finn, Shannon-Erne Waterway, Wattle Bridge, workboat
Messrs Pesda Press have a new book on Canoe Camping. I haven’t read it, but Pesda produced the excellent Oileáin, David Walsh’s superb guide to 570 Irish offshore islands, many of them most easily accessible by kayak. With more emphasis on the development of blueways and canoe trails in Ireland, Tim Gent’s book on canoe camping might be of interest to canoeists and kayakers and to those providing facilities and services for them.
Big it up for Messrs Breakingnews.ie for the information that the European Commission is taking Ireland to court over the ludicrous regulations for the use of green diesel in private pleasure craft. The topic has been covered here more than once, most recently here; I discussed the ludicrous regulations here.
Breakingnews.ie says that Ireland ignored the EU’s “letters” (presumably the Reasoned Opinion) on the subject. That is consoling, because my own requests for information about Ireland’s response to the Reasoned Opinion have likewise been ignored.
The EU’s press release is here; the EU notes that
While Irish law requires craft owners to pay to the Revenue the difference between the tax paid on marked gas oil and that due if the gas oil had been charged at the standard rate, the low number of tax returns indicate that the minimum level of taxation is not applied.
Indeed.
Posted in Economic activities, Extant waterways, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Operations, People, Politics, Sea, Shannon, Tourism, Uncategorized, Water sports activities, waterways, Waterways management
Tagged green diesel, Ireland, mineral oil tax, Operations, revenue commissioners, Shannon, waterways
Irish waterways history 