Waterways Ireland intends to build a canal to Clones at the instigation of the Irish government. I believe that this proposal is an unjustifiable waste of money, at a time when public expenditure (and especially capital expenditure) is being cut.
This page provides links to a series of pages about aspects of the proposal. At time of writing, there are four pages up; there will be more, concentrating on the economic and financial aspects.
I have had limited access to documents:
- every debate in the Dáil or Seanad in which the Ulster Canal was mentioned
- every debate and committee session in the Northern Ireland Assembly in which the Ulster Canal was mentioned
- every debate in the House of Lords and the House of Commons in which the Ulster Canal was mentioned
- the minutes of meetings of the North/South Ministerial Council in Inland Waterways Sectoral Format and relevant minutes of Plenary Format meetings
- the documents available on the websites of Waterways Ireland and of the Department of Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs.
Neither the Department of Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs nor Waterways Ireland has answered all the questions I asked them. Accordingly, I may have got some things wrong, and I would welcome correction. I would also welcome copies of confidential documents: this could become WikiLocks.
Irish waterways history 