This information might come in useful some day ….
Lough Neagh: 39,200 ha
Lough Corrib: 17,800 ha
Lough Derg: 13,000 ha
Lower Erne: 10,950 ha
Lough Ree: 10,500 ha
Lough Mask: 8,900 ha
Lough Allen: 3,500 ha
Upper Erne: 3,450 ha
Lough Key: 900 ha
Divide hectares by 100 to get square kilometres.
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
… their true origins revealed (up to a point, Lord Copper).
Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Ireland, People, Scenery, Sources, Tourism, waterways
Tagged Brahman, Buddhist, Devenish, Erne, Hindu, Holy Island, Ireland, Kali, lingam, Lough Derg, Lough Neagh, phallus, Ram's Island, round tower, Shannon, Shiva, Siva, waterways
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
According to the Sunday Business Post of 20 November 2011 (paywall),
There is growing momentum behind a proposal to abolish the use of a green dye in subsidised agricultural diesel because of its widespread abuse through diesel ‘washing’ facilities.
The Irish Road Haulage Association wants the Minister for Finance “to leave all diesel white in colour, but allow agricultural users like farmers and contractors to receive a rebate for the diesel they purchase for agricultural use.”
Were this proposal adopted, it would mean that owners of private pleasure craft would be relieved of the obligation to make an annual return of their propulsion fuel purchases to the Revenue Commissioners, a return that must be accompanied by a cheque for the difference between the low price they currently pay for green diesel and the full price for white diesel. As I an quite sure that all owners are making such returns, the IRHA proposal would not increase the cost of boat use and would remove the form-filling.
I am so confident that all owners of private pleasure craft pay in full that I have asked the Revenue Commissioners to tell me how much the owners paid in each of the last two years.
Note, by the way, that the SBP’s account is at odds with that in the Irish Times on 9 November 2011, which said:
THE GOVERNMENT has effectively ruled out a rebate system to farmers and other legitimate users of agricultural or marked diesel to combat fuel laundering.
No doubt much spinning is going on.
Posted in Ashore, Economic activities, Ireland, Irish waterways general, Operations, Politics, Tourism, waterways, Waterways management
Tagged boats, diesel, green, Ireland, private pleasure craft, rebate, Revenue, vessels, waterways, white
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
A modest proposal here for funding the canal.
Posted in Built heritage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Operations, Politics, Restoration and rebuilding, Ulster Canal, waterways, Waterways management
Tagged Clones, Department of Community Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs, Erne, funding, industrial heritage, Lough Neagh, Ulster Canal, waterways, Waterways Ireland
Irish waterways history 