The Ulster Canal

Posted on Wednesday 16 November 2011 | Leave a comment

A modest proposal here for funding the canal.

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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

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What’s my number?

Posted on Wednesday 16 November 2011 | 1 comment

Grass-cutting team's van at Ballyconnell ...

... and van at Riversdale

Notice that both vehicles have the same number on their sides:

WCPDC-08-1153

What is it?

It’s Waterways Ireland’s Waste Collection Permit number, issued by Dublin City Council to Waterways Ireland at its Enniskillen address, but handled by the Environment Officer in WI’s Scarriff office. The permit allows WI staff to pick up rubbish along their waterways in counties Carlow, Cavan, Clare, Fingal, Galway, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Leitrim, Limerick, Longford, Meath, Monaghan, North Tipperary, Offaly, Roscommon, South Dublin and Westmeath and in Dublin and Limerick cities. It will expire on 17 June 2014, so the link above may stop working after that.

Note that WI is not permitted to pick up dogshit (if that’s what “animal by-products” are) or batteries.

WI has 92 vehicles authorised to pick up waste.

Isn’t that interesting? What a lot of stuff WI staff have to know about and what a lot of regulations they have to comply with.

 

 

 

 

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Posted in Ashore, Economic activities, Extant waterways, Ireland, Operations, Politics, Sources, waterways, Waterways management

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Dredging in Limerick

Posted on Tuesday 15 November 2011 | Leave a comment

The Limerick Leader has a story here.

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Posted in Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Ireland, Operations, Restoration and rebuilding, waterways, Waterways management

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Garlic for engineers

Posted on Friday 11 November 2011 | Leave a comment

Information has arrived from the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. I have accordingly updated my page about the Ulster Canal and the Infrastructure and Capital Investment 2012-16: Medium Term Exchequer Framework.

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Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Foreign parts, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Operations, Politics, Restoration and rebuilding, Ulster Canal, Uncategorized, waterways, Waterways management

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The Ulster Canal and the Irish economy

Posted on Friday 11 November 2011 | Leave a comment

The Irish government has decided that it cannot afford to pay for:

  • a road in the United Kingdom
  • some railway lines in Dublin, Meath and the west
  • a prison in the countryside.

But what of the Ulster Canal? It is not explicitly mentioned in the Infrastructure and Capital Investment 2012-16: Medium Term Exchequer Framework document published on 10 November 2011. It is not clear that the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht will have enough money to pay for it: here is my assessment. In the absence of explicit information from the department, I would welcome information from other sources.

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Posted in Built heritage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Foreign parts, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish waterways general, Politics, Restoration and rebuilding, Ulster Canal, waterways, Waterways management

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Triangular quaternions

Posted on Thursday 10 November 2011 | Leave a comment

The indefatigable Mary Mulvihill has produced a podcast guide to a Royal Canal walk, from Dunsink to Broombridge. The podcast is free to download as an MP3 file.

Its production was supported by Maths Week Ireland and the Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering & Technology (IRCSET); it follows the annual walk to commemorate the achievement of Sir William Rowan Hamilton, who in 1843 invented a new type of algebra, quaternions, and wrote the equation on the bridge.

bjg

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Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Irish waterways general, Non-waterway, People, Sources, Uncategorized, waterways, Waterways management

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The Suir

Posted on Thursday 10 November 2011 | 1 comment

South Tipperary County Council participated in the EU Waterways Forward project, with a focus on the River Suir. Here is a brief report on the Suir River Café project.

The other Irish participant was Waterways Ireland, whose project (PDF) was about the implementation of the Water Framework Directive on canals.

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Posted in Built heritage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Forgotten navigations, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish waterways general, Natural heritage, Operations, Suir, waterways, Waterways management

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Hello clouds, hello sky

Posted on Tuesday 1 November 2011 | Leave a comment

A former minister for waterways has been elected President, dooming the state to seven years of waffle. He is chiefly famous (in these parts) for having given four barges to “communities” as well as for seizing the waterways from the OPW; I understand that three of the barges have now been returned to the waterways service (now Waterways Ireland).

It seems that some folk are not entirely convinced of his poetic gifts. I stand with Nigel Molesworth.

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Posted in Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, People, Politics, Restoration and rebuilding, Waterways management

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Mid Shannon Corridor Tourism subsidy

Posted on Tuesday 1 November 2011 | 5 comments

 

I have been trying for some time to find out whether anyone has taken advantage of the Mid-Shannon Corridor Tourism Infrastructure Investment Scheme. I sent this email to the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport in July 2011; I received no reply, so I have sent it again today.

===begins=====

Your website’s list of contacts does not include an email address for the section of your department that deals with tourism [it still doesn’t, on 1 Novemebr 2011], so I would be grateful if you would pass this query to the appropriate person.

I have some questions about the Mid-Shannon Corridor Tourism Infrastructure Investment Scheme. I would be grateful if you could tell me how many applications for approval in principle have been received.

Could I have a list of the applicants and their proposals please?

How many applications have been approved?

Could I have a list of them please?

On how many projects has expenditure been incurred?

Could I have a list of them please?

===ends=====

 

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Posted in Ashore, Economic activities, Ireland, Tourism

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Paying up

Posted on Tuesday 1 November 2011 | Leave a comment

Text of email sent today to the Revenue Commissioners press office:

===begins=====

I would be grateful if you could tell me:

– how much marked gas oil was supplied to sellers of diesel fuel along Irish inland waterways in years ending 31 December 2009 and 2010

– what rates of duty applied in those periods

– how much duty was paid by owners of private pleasure craft for each of those years using form PPN1 Mineral Oil Tax Return.

===ends=====

 

 

 

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Posted in Ireland, Irish waterways general, Politics

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