Tag Archives: Waterways Ireland

Optimists …

Posted on Tuesday 13 September 2011 | Leave a comment

… in Clones.

Leave a comment

Posted in Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Forgotten navigations, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Restoration and rebuilding, Tourism, waterways, Waterways management

Tagged canal, Clones, Department of Community Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs, Erne, Ireland, Lough Neagh, Ulster Canal, waterways, Waterways Ireland

Cycling the Royal Canal

Posted on Tuesday 13 September 2011 | Leave a comment

Here is a very short report from someone who did some of it (Dublin to Abbeyshrule).

Leave a comment

Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Extant waterways, Ireland, Non-waterway, Scenery, Tourism, waterways, Waterways management

Tagged canal, Ireland, Royal Canal, Waterways Ireland

Love me tender

Posted on Tuesday 13 September 2011 | Leave a comment

Waterways Ireland tender documents are a source of interesting and occasionally useful information. At present WI is looking for tenders for

a hospitality guide
turf (sod peat) for bank repairs on the Royal Canal
automation of certain weirs. Expressing an interest in this one will allow you to get some original (Shannon Commissioners) drawings of parts of the old weirs.

Leave a comment

Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish waterways general, Operations, Restoration and rebuilding, Scenery, Sources, The turf trade, Tourism, waterways, Waterways management

Tagged canal, Ireland, Operations, Royal Canal, Shannon, turf, waterways, Waterways Ireland, weir

Waterways Forward

Posted on Monday 12 September 2011 | Leave a comment

Read about the EU’s Waterways Forward project here and download PDFs showing what the Irish participants Waterways Ireland and South Tipperary County Council got out of the project. WI’s project was on the implementation of the Water Framework Directive on the Royal and Grand Canals; South Tipperary County Council’s was about generating a shared vision for the Suir through the River Café project.

Some folk may recognise the canal boat on the WI document. That fella gets in everywhere.

Leave a comment

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

Tagged boats, canal, Grand Canal, Ireland, Operations, river café, Royal Canal, Suir, Water Framework Directive, waterways, Waterways Forward, Waterways Ireland

New Junction Canal (SEW) bridge

Posted on Monday 5 September 2011 | Leave a comment

The Anglo-Celt reports that Ballyconnell, Co Cavan, is to have a new “inner relief road” (a cure for indigestion?). The road will cross the Junction Canal (Shannon–Erne Waterway), or Woodford Canal as the newspaper calls it, on “an expansive new bridge”:

The bridge has to allow enough clearance for boating traffic on the canal. The new road will come out past the Old Ennis Mill location and just before the Quinn cement plant.

The work is to be finished by August 2012. The Waterways Ireland website has, as yet, no information about any interruption to navigation during construction.

Leave a comment

Posted in Ashore, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Ireland, Irish waterways general, Non-waterway, Waterways management

Tagged Ballinamore and Ballyconnell Canal, Ballyconnell, boats, bridge, canal, Erne, Ireland, Junction Canal, Operations, Shannon, Shannon-Erne Waterway, Waterways Ireland

Uncle Gaybo …

Posted on Sunday 28 August 2011 | Leave a comment

… bigs it up for the Barrow, specifically a walk from Graiguenamanagh to St Mullins.

Leave a comment

Posted in Ashore, Built heritage, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Natural heritage, Tourism, Water sports activities, waterways, Waterways management

Tagged Barrow, Graiguenamanagh, Ireland, lock, St Mullins, waterways, Waterways Ireland

Championing waterways heritage

Posted on Thursday 25 August 2011 | Leave a comment

O’Briensbridge, covered here on this site, makes the front page of the Clare Champion this week.

Leave a comment

Posted in Built heritage, Charles Wye Williams, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Forgotten navigations, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish waterways general, Operations, People, Politics, Restoration and rebuilding, Steamers, The cattle trade, The turf trade, Tourism, waterways, Waterways management

Tagged anchor, boats, bridge, capstan, Castleconnell, Charles Wye Williams, Clare, floods, flow, Ireland, Killaloe, Limerick, Lough Derg, Montpelier, O'Briensbridge, Operations, quay, Shannon, turf, vessels, water level, waterways, Waterways Ireland

The Blocks in the Docks

Posted on Monday 15 August 2011 | 3 comments

Waterways Ireland’s visitor centre in Dublin, known as the Box in the Docks, has been closed for some time. I don’t know whether it has yet been reopened, but it has a new website.

If you are pained by greengrocers’ apostrophes, don’t go there. The main problem, though, is that the website says nothing about what is in the Box. Why “Plan a visit” if you don’t know what you’ll see when you get there?

Perhaps it’s a work in progress, with more to be added later, but I’d welcome information about what’s in the centre from anyone who has visited it recently.

Posted in Ashore, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Ireland, Operations, Tourism, Waterways management

Tagged box in the docks, Dublin, Grand Canal, Ireland, Waterways Ireland

A new activity

Posted on Monday 8 August 2011 | Leave a comment

Trainspotters have it easy: even if they run out of engines to record, they can fall back on writing down the numbers of carriages.

There is less scope on the waterways, with relatively few working boats. However, Waterways Ireland seems to have a sizeable fleet of land vehicles, so we could record all of them … and, in the process, find out how many land vehicles WI actually operates.

I’ve started here with some pics of vehicles on the Shannon–Erne Waterway, but I’d like your help. If you spot a WI vehicle, photograph it and send the pic to me (reduced to less than 300 KB) with a note of when and where you saw the vehicle and, if possible, information on what it was doing. I’d also like you to give me permission to use the photo on the vehicles web page (but you will still own the copyright).

Just think, we could be just like those interesting chaps who photograph Eddie Stobart trucks ….

Leave a comment

Posted in Ashore, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Ireland, Irish waterways general, Operations, waterways, Waterways management

Tagged pickup, truck, van, vehicle, Waterways Ireland

Buried at the crossroads …

Posted on Sunday 7 August 2011 | Leave a comment

… but without a stake through its heart. The Ulster Canal is dead, but it’s spinning in its grave. Its parent department has admitted some of the truth about its funding, but Waterways Ireland will be applying for planning permission for the scheme: there’s enough money for that, but not for digging. Nonetheless, Fine Gael TDs have managed to distract attention from the absence of funding by pointing to the planning application, while Sinn Féin and Fianna Fáil have not realised that a scheme’s benefits should outweigh its costs. Return of the Son of the Ghost of the Bride of the Ulster Canal on view here.

Leave a comment

Posted in Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Foreign parts, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Operations, People, Politics, Restoration and rebuilding, Tourism, waterways, Waterways management

Tagged Anglo-Celt, assets, budget, canal, Cavan, Clones, Dáil, Deenihan, Department of Community Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs, Dublin, Erne, Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, Heather Humphreys, Ireland, lost, Lough Neagh, McGinley, McLellan, minister, Monaghan, Operations, Shannon, Sinn Fein, Ulster Canal, waterways, Waterways Ireland