It is nice to know that at least one politician has spotted the most important issue affecting Waterways Ireland. Here’s what the minister told him about the 85% of WI’s current budget that comes from her department:
Funding allocated to Waterways Ireland 2011-2014
Year €m
2011 €30.300m
2012 €27.099m
2013 €25.463m
2014 €24.183m
Now, Willie, ask her how much of each year’s allocation is gobbled up by pensions.
Posted in Canals, Economic activities, Extant waterways, Ireland, Irish waterways general, Operations, People, Politics, Restoration and rebuilding, Sources, waterways, Waterways management
Tagged budget, canal, department of arts heritage and the gaeltacht, Ireland, labour, Operations, Royal Canal, waterways, Waterways Ireland, Willie Penrose
On 26 November 2012 I noted that
The Royal Canal water supply applications have been approved by An Bord Pleanala. There were two separate applications […] but they were in effect treated as one.
There were conditions attached, but I concluded that
If I remember correctly, the amount of water available from Lough Ennell will not always provide enough (eg in a dry season) to keep the canal full. Still, this is a significant advance for Waterways Ireland and for Royal Canal enthusiasts.
So here we are, almost two years later, and the work of providing a supply from Lough Ennell to the Royal Canal, reckoned to be about a five-month job, has doubtless been long completed, no?
No.
The work has not yet started and Waterways Ireland will be lucky if it gets done within the next year.
As I understand it — and if, Gentle Reader, you have more information, do please leave a Comment below (your name can be kept out of public view if you like) — there are three sources of delay:
Irish Water has published its proposed Capital Investment Programme [PDF] but Appendix 1, the Investment Plan Project Summary, is in a separate file [PDF]. Category B is headed Review Scope and Commence Construction and it includes
Mullingar Regional Water Supply Scheme (G) … Lough Ennell Abstraction.
I can’t work out what “(G)” means. A few items are so marked; a few others are marked “(H)”; most items have neither.
The Capital Investment Programme [CIP] document says:
The CIP is dominated by contractual commitments entered into previously by Local Authorities, and which have now transitioned to Irish Water. In the 2014-2016 period, Irish Water will fund these contracts to completion and bring forward programmes and prioritised projects to commence. At the same time, it will progress a large portfolio of projects that are at the planning and design stage, reviewing their scope, budgets and, where appropriate, timing to favour maximising the performance of the existing assets through intensified capital maintenance that might allow deferral of major capital investment.
Emphasis mine. So that raises the possibility that Irish Water will decide not to fund the abstraction scheme but will rather opt to pay for continued pumping.
It is, of course, quite possible that I have misunderstood these difficult matters, so I will be glad to hear from anyone with better information.
Incidentally, reviewing Irish Water’s documents suggests to me that there are people there who know what they are doing and who have the expertise to manage large and complex operations. That differentiates them from the politicians in government and opposition, few of whom (as far as I can see) have any experience of running anything more complex than a parish social.
Posted in Built heritage, Canals, Drainage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Natural heritage, Non-waterway, Operations, People, Politics, Restoration and rebuilding, Sources, Tourism, waterways, Waterways management, Weather
Tagged bridge, Brosna, canal, Clonsingle, county council, department of arts heritage and the gaeltacht, floods, flow, Ireland, irish water, lock, Lough Ennell, Lough Owel, Mullingar, Operations, Royal Canal, water level, water supply, waterways, Waterways Ireland, weir, Westmeath
From the Financial Resolutions speeches:
I am committed to developing North-South co-operation within the broader arts, heritage and commemorative activities of my Department as well as through the funding of North-South bodies. A provision of more than €38 million is made available to support the two North-South implementation bodies — An Foras Teanga and Waterways Ireland. These budgets will be subject to the approval of the North South Ministerial Council in due course. The provision will enable Waterways Ireland to keep the waterways open for navigation during the main boating season and promote increased use for recreational purposes while developing and promoting our waterways to attract increased numbers of overseas visitors.
Nothing new there, I think, but note the repetition of a point I highlighted last year:
The provision will enable Waterways Ireland to keep the waterways open for navigation during the main boating season […].
Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Canals, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Foreign parts, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Irish waterways general, Operations, People, Politics, Shannon, Sources, waterways, Waterways management
Tagged boats, budget, canal, department of arts heritage and the gaeltacht, financial resolution, Heather Humphreys, Ireland, Operations, Shannon, waterways, Waterways Ireland
I am grateful to Waterways Ireland for letting me have the Shannon traffic figures for August 2014.
All the usual caveats apply:
On the other hand, the figures do include the Shannon’s most significant tourism activity, the cruiser hire business. And they are our only consistent long-term indicator of usage of the inland waterways.
Total (private + hired) traffic for the first eight months of each year
I thought that the good weather in July might have brought more boaters out in August (when the weather was not so good), but it didn’t. This is the lowest eight-month figure in my series; traffic is just under 56% of what it was in 2003.
Private-boat traffic for the first eight months of each year
Nothing much to cheer about there. Traffic was very slightly higher than in 2012.
Maybe lots of people have taken up sailing, and thus been confined to the lakes, instead of cruising. If, gentle reader, you can think of a way of measuring sailing usage, let me know.
Hire-boat traffic for the first eight months of each year
As I said last month, the pace of decline seems to have slowed, but this is still the lowest figure in my series.
Changes since 2003: private and hired boats
The eight-month figures for private traffic are a bit worse than the seven-month, but perhaps September’s extraordinarily good weather will prompt an increase. There is no good news for the hire business, but perhaps the profitability of the remaining operators will be improved.
Still roughly 50/50
What is the Shannon’s USP?
Posted in Canals, Charles Wye Williams, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Operations, People, Scenery, Shannon, Sources, Tourism, Water sports activities, waterways, Waterways management, Weather
Tagged barge, boats, bridge, department of arts heritage and the gaeltacht, Ireland, lock, Lough Derg, Operations, passages, Shannon, traffic, waterways, Waterways Ireland
I wrote on 26 November 2013, and again on that date, on 22 January 2014 and on 7 April 2014 about the extraordinary delays in having Waterways Ireland’s business plans approved by The Powers That Be. I saw it as poor practice that would make management’s job harder, with plans not being approved until very late in the year or even until after the end of the year to which they applied.
But, thanks to a statement by Jim Allister of Traditional Unionist Voice, I have been alerted to the possibility that the problem might be even greater than that. He points out that the NI Comptroller and Auditor General qualified the Resource Accounts of the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure [DCAL] for y/e 31 March 2014 because the business plans for Waterways Ireland and the North/South Language Body were not approved in time. Jim Allister’s interpretation is perhaps a little overheated — the C&AG’s “irregular” becomes “illegal” and “unlawful” — so it’s worth looking in detail about what the C&AG actually said.
It’s very hard to find the DCAL Resource Accounts on the departmental website (which has a dreadful search engine) so here is a link [PDF]. I quote from them under the [UK] Open Government Licence [the link in the accounts omits a backslash].
In his Certificate of the Comptroller and Auditor General to the Northern Ireland Assembly on page 83 of the accounts, the C&AG, K J Donnelly, says:
Basis for qualified opinion on regularity
The Department is responsible for providing Annual Business Plans to the Department of Finance and Personnel in sufficient time to allow approval by the Minister of Finance and Personnel and the North South Ministerial Council prior to the commencement of the financial year to which the plan relates. As business plan approvals were not in place the Department has incurred irregular spend in 2013-‐14 in relation to grants amounting to £3,213,000 paid to Waterways Ireland and £5,258,000 paid to the North/South Language Body.
The C&AG writes about this in more detail on pages 120 and 121:
2. Irregular Spend
2.1 The Department, along with the Department for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht jointly sponsors Waterways Ireland and the North/South Language Body; both are North South Implementation Bodies set up under the North/South Co-operation (Implementation Bodies) (Northern Ireland) Order 1999 (the legislation).
2.2 The legislation requires each body to prepare an annual business plan that is subject to the approval of both Finance Ministers and the North South Ministerial Council. The legislation also states that the department may make grants to the body out of money appropriated by the Act of the Assembly and that such grants shall be of amounts and made on such terms and conditions as the department may, with the approval of the Department of Finance and Personnel, determine.
2.3 In order to comply with the legislation, sponsor departments are responsible for providing Business Plans to the Department of Finance and Personnel in sufficient time to allow approval by the Minister of Finance and Personnel and the North South Ministerial Council prior to the commencement of the financial year to which the plan relates.
2.4 Due to delays in the provision of Business Plans for some bodies, the Department of Finance and Personnel sought legal advice on the legitimacy of grants paid to the bodies prior to the approval of the plans. The Department of Finance and Personnel wrote to Accounting Officers on 23 May 2014 pointing out that failure to follow the outlined approval process in relation to grants made to North/South bodies has resulted in irregular spend.
2.5 The Department has advised me that given the timing of business plan approvals it has incurred irregular spend of £8,471,000 in 2013–14. This is made up of £3,213,000 in relation to Waterways Ireland and £5,258,000 in relation to the North/South Language Body.
Conclusion
2.6 As Business Plans have not received the required approval, there was no authority for this expenditure. I have therefore concluded that the expenditure was not in conformity with the authorities which govern it and qualified my audit opinion on regularity in this respect.
2.7 The Department of Finance and Personnel also indicated that if a department pays a cash grant to a North/South Body without the prior approval of the Department of Finance and Personnel then the department will have breached the provisions of the legislation and the expenditure is thus unlawful. However, there is conflicting legal advice on whether Department of Finance and Personnel approval has been provided in this regard. This is an issue which affects a number of departments and I would encourage this Department and others affected to further engage with the Department of Finance and Personnel to recolve this matter. I intend to keep this matter under review.
Peter May, the department’s Permanent Secretary, is its Accounting Officer. In his report he wrote about Governance Divergences arising in the Current Year on pages 79 and 80:
N/S Bodies
On 23 May 2014 DFP alerted departments which sponsored North South Bodies of concerns it had around the regularity and legality of grant payments made to these Bodies.
Regularity of payments — The Department accepts that N/S Bodies business plans must be approved by the North South Ministerial Council in order for expenditure to be regarded as regular.
During 2013–14 DCAL incurred irregular spend in respect of grants to Waterways Ireland and the Language Body as business plans for these respective periods have not been approved. It should be noted that draft business plans were in place against which the performance and budget of the bodies was monitored, and an approved Corporate Plan was in place for the period 2011–13.
Legality of payments — DFP has also raised concerns about these grants because they insist there is no record of formal DFP approval for the amounts of these grants or the terms and conditions under which they were made.
On the basis of legal advice, the Department considers the Estimates process and the negotiations between Finance Ministers on the efficiency savings show approval for the amount of the grant, while the Financial Memorandum provides the terms and conditions, which have not changed since 2005. This approach has been followed in good faith by DCAL on the basis of advice provided by DFP in 2009.
Full details of this spend is given Note SOAS 8.
SOAS8, on page 90, adds no useful information.
Jim Allister has two Priority Written Questions down on the matter:
AQW 35466/11-15 Mr Jim Allister (TUV – North Antrim): To ask the Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure, in light of the Comptroller and Auditor General qualifying her Department’s Resource Accounts for 2013/14, whether she accepts that grant payments of over £8m made by her Department’s North/South Bodies were irregular; and if she will seek approval from the Department of Finance and Personnel for all such payments in accordance with the statutory requirements of the North/South Co-operation (Implementation Bodies) (Northern Ireland) Order 1999. [Priority Written] [04/09/2014 Awaiting Answer]
AQW 35541/11-15 Mr Jim Allister (TUV – North Antrim): To ask the Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure whether she will place into the Assembly Library, a copy of the documentation received from the Department of Finance and Personnel (DFP), or otherwise recording DFP approval, which verifies the claim by her Department’s Accounting Officer in the Resource Accounts 2013/14 that DFP approval of grants to North/South Bodies was given for the amount of the grant at estimates or efficiency stage negotiations. [Priority Written] [05/09/2014 Awaiting Answer]
If I have understood him correctly, Jim Allister is most interested in whether DCAL was engaged in illegality; the department is, I think, rather defensive about the matter, but they can fight it out between themselves.
What interests me, though, is why DCAL could not approve the business plans in good time. Had it done so, and pushed them through the remaining regulatory hoops, it would have had no problem with either regularity or legality. Neither Corporate Plans, which cover three-year periods, nor draft business plans are acceptable substitutes for having the annual business plans approved in good time.
I don’t see, in either the C&AG’s or the Accounting Officer’s coverage, any explanation for the inordinate delays; they don’t say whether the problem is within DCAL, between DCAL and DFP or between DCAL and its southern counterpart, the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. Wherever it lies, it needs to be sorted out.
Posted in Economic activities, Extant waterways, Foreign parts, Ireland, Operations, People, Politics, waterways, Waterways management
Tagged C&AG, Comptroller and Auditor General, dcal, department of arts heritage and the gaeltacht, department of culture arts and leisure, Ireland, Jim Allister, North South Ministerial Council, Operations, TUV, waterways, Waterways Ireland
Mary Lou McDonald [SF, Dublin Central] asked Jimmy Deenihan [FG, Kerry North/West Limerick], before his departure from the waterways (and other stuff) department,
… if he will provide in tabular form a list of the annual salaries of the chief executive officers of all non-commercial State sponsored bodies under his remit.
Which he did; you can see it here.
I thought it might be interesting to see how the salaries of the CEOs relate to the numbers of staff and the budgets they control. It’s not easy to compare them. The salary figures are presumably current; the various bodies offer, on their websites, accounts for years ending anywhere from 31 December 2011 to [well done, the National Concert Hall] 31 December 2013. In some cases I could find no proper accounts, but at least the Crawford Art Gallery gave a figure for its income, which is more than the Chester Beatty Library did [as far as I could see].
There were several other minor difficulties, but the big problem is that some bodies distribute grants to others, so their business is processing money: as a result, their income (usually from, or mostly from, the state) is higher than it would be for non-grant-distributing bodies. I have made no attempt to allow for that.
To make comparisons easier, I divided the number of staff in each body by the CEO’s salary (converted to euro where necessary) and multiplied the result by 1000 to remove leading zeroes. That tells you how many employees you get managed for each euro of CEO salary. Waterways Ireland is by far the biggest organisation, but has the second-lowest CEO salary.
Similarly, I divided the organisation’s income by the CEO’s salary to provide a crude measure of how much activity you get for each euro of CEO salary. Bodies dispensing grants look better than they otherwise might using this measure.
This is then a very crude comparison, with many caveats, but I think that Dawn Livingstone of Waterways Ireland is the best-value CEO of those running bodies under the aegis of the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.
| Organisation | Staff | Budget (m) | CEO salary | Staff X 1000/salary | Budget/salary |
| Arts Council | 48[1] | €63.9[2] | €85,750 | 0.56 | 745.19 |
| Chester Beatty Library | 37[3] | ?[4] | €90,591 | 0.41 | ? |
| Crawford Art Gallery | 15 | €1.1[5] | €72,124 | 0.21 | 15.25 |
| Foras na Gaeilge | 64[6] | €21.5[7] | €113,429 | 0.56 | 189.55 |
| Heritage Council | 18[8] | €7.8[9] | €113,123 | 0.16 | 68.95 |
| Irish Film Board | 15[10] | €20.2[11] | €97,981 | 0.15 | 206.16 |
| Irish Museum of Modern Art | 83[12] | €8.3[13] | €85,720 | 0.97 | 96.83 |
| National Concert Hall | 103[14] | €4.6[15] | €101,056 | 1.02 | 45.52 |
| National Gallery of Ireland | 117[16] | €9.5[17] | €93,297 | 1.25 | 101.83 |
| National Library of Ireland | 93[18] | €9.5[19] | €81,080 | 1.15 | 117.17 |
| National Museum of Ireland | 176[20] | €17.6[21] | €96,148 | 1.83 | 183.05 |
| Údarás na Gaeltachta | 86[22] | €40.2[23] | €126,200 | 0.68 | 318.54 |
| Ulster-Scots Agency | 20[24] | €3.4[25] | €61,997[26] | 0.32 | 54.81 |
| Waterways Ireland | 328[27] | €41.0[28] | €77,071[29] | 4.26 | 531.98 |
I’m sorry the table spreads so far to the right; I can’t work out how to narrow the column widths.
[1] 41 full time and 7 part time WTEs, according to note 2c to accounts in Arts Council Annual Report 2012
[2] Total income y/e 31 December 2012 from Arts Council Annual Report 2012. €56.6m was dispensed to other bodies in grants
[3] Excluding volunteers and vacant posts shown in the Staff List in Report of the Trustees Chester Beatty Library 2012
[4] The annual report for 2012 available here http://www.cbl.ie/About-Us/The-Chester-Beatty-Library/Reports.aspx does not include accounts. There is a one-page balance sheet, without the associated notes, from which I am unable to form any idea of the cost of the institution
[5] I am unable to find any accounts on the Crawford Art Gallery’s website http://www.crawfordartgallery.ie/aboutus1.html. Its Annual report 2011, the most recent available, says “The Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism pay allocation to the Gallery for 2011 was €475,000, while the non-pay allocation was €600,000. The capital allocation for 2011 was €275,000.” I have used the (rounded) sum of the first two figures
[6] Staff Costs and Board Remuneration in Foras na Gaeilge section of The North/South Language Body Annual Report and Accounts for 2011
[7] Total income y/e 31 December 2011 from Foras na Gaeilge section of The North/South Language Body Annual Report and Accounts for 2011
[8] Heritage Council website www.heritagecouncil.ie
[9] Total income y/e 31 December 2013 from Heritage Council Annual Report for 2012
[10] Note 6 to accounts in Annual Report 2011
[11] Sum of total income figures from Capital Income and Expenditure Account and Administration Income and Expenditure Account y/e 31 December 2011 in Annual Report 2011
[12] Note 9 to accounts in Irish Museum of Modern Art Annual Report 2011
[13] Total income y/e 31 December 2011 from Irish Museum of Modern Art Annual Report 2011
[14] Note 2 to accounts in National Concert Hall Annual Report 2013
[15] Gross income y/e 31 December 2013 from National Concert Hall Annual Report 2013
[16] Note 7 to accounts in National Gallery of Ireland Annual Report 2012
[17] Total income y/e 31 December 2012 from National Gallery of Ireland Annual Report 2012
[18] Rounded. From Human resource management and development in National Library of Ireland Annual Report 2011
[19] Total income y/e 31 December 2011 from National Library of Ireland Annual Report 2011
[20] Note 13 to accounts in The National Museum of Ireland Financial Statements for 2011
[21] Total income y/e 31 December 2011 from The National Museum of Ireland Financial Statements for 2011
[22] Údarás na Gaeltachta Annual Report and Accounts 2012
[23] Total income y/e 31 December 2012 from Údarás na Gaeltachta Annual Report and Accounts 2012
[24] Staff Costs and Board Members in Tha Boord O Ulster-Scotch section of The North/South Language Body Annual Report and Accounts for 2011
[25] Total income y/e 31 December 2011 from Tha Boord O Ulster-Scotch section of The North/South Language Body Annual Report and Accounts for 2011
[26] £49,244
[27] Excluding student placements and temporary and agency staff (total 19). Note 4 to accounts in Waterways Ireland Annual Report and Accounts 2012
[28] Total income y/e 31 December 2013 from Waterways Ireland Annual Report and Accounts 2012
Posted in Built heritage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Foreign parts, Ireland, Operations, People, Politics, Sources, Waterways management
Tagged budget, comparison, Dawn Livingstone, department of arts heritage and the gaeltacht, Dublin, income, Ireland, Operations, salary, staff, Waterways Ireland
Waterways Ireland has no staff on temporary contracts but has 32 on seasonal contracts.
Posted in Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Foreign parts, Ireland, Irish waterways general, Operations, People, Politics, Safety, Shannon, Sources, Tourism, Water sports activities, waterways, Waterways management
Tagged department of arts heritage and the gaeltacht, employees, Ireland, Operations, seasonal, staff, temporary, Waterways Ireland
Irish waterways history 