I have reported regularly on Shannon traffic figures [most recently here] but I have paid relatively little attention to the Shannon–Erne Waterway [SEW]. I am therefore grateful to Waterways Ireland for supplying me with the last five years’ monthly traffic figures for Locks 1 and 16 on the SEW. I had some queries about the figures for certain months and I have put them to Waterways Ireland, but I presume that the annual figures are OK.
Shannon–Erne Waterway traffic 2010–2014
Clearly, not all boats go all the way through: if they did, the figures for Locks 1 and 16 might be the same. The hire bases for Locaboat, Riversdale and Corraquill were all on the Erne side of the summit level; does Lock 1’s excess of traffic over Lock 16 suggest that hirers, perhaps wishing to minimise the number of locks they passed through, headed for the Erne rather than the Shannon? The figures, which I presume are gathered automatically, do not distinguish between private and hired boats.
The other point that strikes me is that the level of traffic is actually quite low. I put in the figures for Pollboy and Athlone locks to allow comparison. SEW traffic is greater than that on the Lough Allen Canal, but it is not much greater than that on the River Suck to Ballinasloe. In that case, WI is [according to its Business Plan 2015] considering automating Pollboy Lock to reduce costs.
Pollboy lock passages 2005–2014
The SEW locks are already automated, but the costs and benefits may have to be re-examined, especially now that Locaboat has moved from Ballinamore to Quigleys Marina at Killinure on Lough Ree: I presume that that will result in less traffic on the SEW.
In 2006 Pollboy traffic was used as the basis for estimating likely traffic to Clones on the Ulster Canal’s “SW section”:
The total number of boat parties/groups for the SW section is assumed to be 600. This is based on a comparison with another “offshoot” like the Suck Navigation which had around 1,250 boat parties/groups in 2005 (obtained by dividing the passages through Pollboy Lock by 2) in a much busier section of the whole system. So, for the SW section, a level of around 50% (ie. 600) is regarded as a reasonable assumption.
Waterways Ireland Socio economic Summary Report for the NE and SW Sections of the Ulster Canal Final Report February 2006
Now that Pollboy’s traffic is half what it was in 2005, no doubt the estimate for the number of boats that would visit Clones, if a canal ever reached it, has likewise been halved, which would give an average of about ten boats a week over a seven-month season: four boats every Saturday and one a day for the rest of the week. Folk intending to build restaurants to cater for the cruiser traffic might be wise to reassess their investment plans:
In overall terms, the benefits of waterway restoration derive from the fact that these can facilitate a variety of leisure and recreational activity, that the users will benefit from this activity, and that there will also be wider spin-off benefits in the areas, e.g. facilities such as restaurants etc built to service canal traffic.
Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Restoring the Ulster Canal from Lough Erne to Clones Updated Business Case February 2015
There’s not enough business there for a burger van, never mind a restaurant.
But if Pollboy, the River Suck and Ballinasloe are no longer cited as support for the construction of a Clones Sheugh, the Shannon–Erne Waterway is still used as an example, in that and in other contexts. Take, for example, this:
Shannon–Erne Waterway magic
I’ve nicked that from a slide show called Economic, Recreational and Social Benefits of Rural Waterways in Ireland, which was to be delivered [PDF] by Garret McGrath of Waterways Ireland at the World Canals Conference [PDF] in Milan in 2014.
Now, if the Shannon–Erne Waterway had caused all that construction activity, we’d have to drag Waterways Ireland before the Irish banking enquiry. Skipping lightly over the question of the ghost estates, and the departure of Locaboat from Ballinamore, we come to the real problem with this sort of stuff: the post hoc fallacy. We are invited to believe that
Well, maybe it did and maybe it didn’t, but the argument presented in the slide show isn’t sufficient to prove it. You would have to check to see whether there were any other possible explanations: any other changes that might have resulted in all that construction.
Along the Shannon–Erne Waterway, I can think of two other possible factors: Sean Quinn’s business empire and the Upper Shannon Rural Renewal Scheme, a tax dodge that applied in Leitrim, Longford, Roscommon, Cavan and Sligo, five of the six counties that had the highest rates of vacant housing (excluding holiday houses). So there are two problems here:
You can read more about that here, noting in particular, on the map, the areas around the upper Shannon and the SEW with vacancy rates of over 25%; you might wonder whether Waterways Ireland is wise to claim credit for housing over-development.
But my main concern here is a different one: that, if you want to claim credit for economic benefits that followed waterways development, you have to measure the benefits and subtract those attributable to other factors, such as Sean Quinn and the Rural Renewal Scheme. Then it would be useful if you compared the remaining benefits with the cost of constructing your waterway: it might then be possible to say that waterways development is a good investment.
It may be that such a study has been done on the SEW, but if it has I don’t know where it is; I would like to see it if it exists. Until then, I regard this sort of thing, from DAHG’s Business Case, as drivel:
The broad existence and nature of the potential socio-economic benefits of canals and restored waterways are therefore well established and not really at issue.
Sorry, minister: that’s rubbish. As far as I know no proper evaluation has ever been carried out on the costs and benefits of any restored or new-built Irish waterway. So you’re not getting away with that one.
Posted in Built heritage, Canals, Drainage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Foreign parts, Ireland, Politics, Restoration and rebuilding, Shannon, Sources, Tourism, Ulster Canal, Uncategorized, Water sports activities, waterways, Waterways management
Tagged Athlone, Ballinasloe, boats, bridge, Cavan, Clones, construction, Corraquill, department of arts heritage and the gaeltacht, Erne, Ireland, Killinure, Leitrim, Locaboat, lock, Longford, Lough Allen, Lough Neagh, Pollboy, Quigleys, Riversdale, Roscommon, Sean Quinn, Shannon, Shannon-Erne Waterway, Sligo, Suck, summit level, tax, Ulster Canal, Upper Shannon Rural Renewal Scheme, vacant housing, waterways, Waterways Ireland
Castle Saunderson and the border
Saunderson’s Sheugh, the latest manifestation of the proposed reconstruction of the Ulster Canal, would run along a border for much of its length. That’s the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, but there is one important border it does not seem to cross [as far as I can see]: that between counties Cavan and Monaghan.
Has Cavan stolen the sheugh from its northern neighbour? I’m sure that folk in the Monaghan part of the Dáil constituency of Cavan-Monaghan won’t mind, but I wonder whether the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, who is a TD from the Monaghan end and is in charge of Sheughery, is concerned that her Monaghan colleague Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin [Sinn Féin] might turn the situation to his party’s advantage. On the other hand, from Sinn Féin’s viewpoint, the question might be whether any sheugh is better than none.
Of course, as soon as a coalition of Sinn Féin and the Éamon Ó Cuív wing of Fianna Fáil takes power, we’ll have the entire Ulster Canal built immediately. And there will be grants for growing flax, carrying corn to Dublin and draining the Shannon [which might mean that there are no southern boats to visit the Ulster Canal].
I should say, though, that Davy, in two reports out today, is not very worried about what Sinn Féin might do: Finfacts story here; Davy here; the two reports here and here [each of which should open as a PDF; if that doesn’t work, use the links on the Davy or the Finfacts page].
Map: OpenStreetMap; copyright explained here.
Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Canals, Drainage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Foreign parts, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Non-waterway, Politics, Restoration and rebuilding, Shannon, Ulster Canal, waterways, Waterways management
Tagged Éamon Ó Cuív, bridge, Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, Castle Saunderson, Cavan, Clones, Clones sheugh, dcal, department of arts heritage and the gaeltacht, department of culture arts and leisure, Erne, flax, Heather Humphreys, Ireland, lock, Lough Neagh, Monaghan, Northern Ireland, Saunderson's Sheugh, Shannon, Sinn Fein, Ulster Canal, waterways, Waterways Ireland
The successful air transport company Harbour Flights, which had a base at Mountshannon, announced some time ago that its level of success was such that it was suspending operations but that it would be back early in 2014, “fully operational again” with a fleet of aircraft “operating from [sic] destinations nationwide”.
Alas, my request for reports of sightings of the fleet produced neither information nor photographs and my own visits to Mountshannon in 2014 did not coincide with any aircraft movements. And now the website at http://www.harbourflights.com/landing.php has disappeared.
Surely nothing can have happened to the firm.
Posted in Economic activities, Extant waterways, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Operations, Safety, Shannon, Tourism, Uncategorized, Water sports activities, waterways, Waterways management
Tagged aircraft, amphibian, Clare, float plane, Harbour Flights, Ireland, Lough Derg, Mountshannon, Operations, seaplane, Shannon, Waterways Ireland
I am grateful to Waterways Ireland for sending me the Shannon traffic figures for the last three months of 2014. They sent them last month but I didn’t have time to deal with them until now.
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 full year
As we saw in September, traffic is down on 2013, but there has been little change over the last three years.
Private-boat traffic for the full years 2003 to 2014
The vertical scale on this chart is different from that for hired boats so the changes in private boating from one year to another are exaggerated (by comparison). The good weather did not prevent a fall in activity.
Hire-boat traffic for the full years 2003 to 2014
Again, the lowest figure in my records, but the drop was small; perhaps the hire trade is bouncing along the bottom (as it were). I wonder whether anyone has a Grand Plan for recovery or rejuvenation.
Percentages of 2003 levels
Private traffic at just over 90% of 2003 levels, hire traffic at just over 40%.
Still roughly 50:50
In the five months January, February, March, November and December, there were 385 passages altogether, less than 1% of total boat movements for the year. If money can be saved by ceasing to operate the locks and bridge during the winter, they should be closed except, perhaps, for one Saturday per month, to be arranged for a non-flood day.
Here is the order of popularity.
| ALBERT LOCK | 7205 |
| ATHLONE LOCK | 5775 |
| CLARENDON LOCK | 5650 |
| ROOSKY LOCK | 5565 |
| PORTUMNA BRIDGE | 5395 |
| VICTORIA LOCK | 4934 |
| TARMONBARRY LOCK | 3885 |
| POLLBOY LOCK | 1222 |
| CLONDRA LOCK | 1020 |
| BATTLEBRIDGE | 835 |
| DRUMLEAGUE | 797 |
| DRUMSHANBO LOCK | 387 |
| SARSFIELD LOCK | 97 |
Lough Allen is a delightful place but it is not popular.
Posted in Built heritage, Canals, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Ireland, Operations, Restoration and rebuilding, Shannon, Sources, Tourism, Water sports activities, waterways, Waterways management, Weather
Tagged Albert Lock, Athlone, Battlebridge, boats, bridge, canal, Clarendon lock, Clondra, Drumleague, Drumshanbo, floods, Ireland, Jamestown, Limerick, lock, Lough Allen, Lough Derg, Lough Key, Meelick, Operations, Portumna, Rooskey, Roosky, Sarsfield, Shannon, Tarmonbarry, Victoria, waterways, Waterways Ireland, Wellesley
Irish waterways history 