The Northern Ireland Executive’s Programme for Government (PDF) is available for download here. The accompanying statement to the Northern Ireland Assembly by the First Minister and deputy First Minister (MW Word .docx) is downloadable here and can also be read on the Assembly’s website here.
There is no mention of waterways or canals in either document.
Posted in Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Foreign parts, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish waterways general, Non-waterway, Operations, Politics, Restoration and rebuilding, Tourism, Ulster Canal, waterways, Waterways management
Tagged Erne, Lough Neagh, Northern Ireland Assembly, Northern Ireland Executive, Ulster Canal, waterways, Waterways Ireland
A modest proposal here for funding the canal.
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
Tagged Clones, Department of Community Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs, Erne, funding, industrial heritage, Lough Neagh, Ulster Canal, waterways, Waterways Ireland
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.
Posted in Ashore, Economic activities, Extant waterways, Ireland, Operations, Politics, Sources, waterways, Waterways management
Tagged canal, Grand Canal, Ireland, permit, vehicles, waste, waterways, Waterways Ireland
The Irish government has decided that it cannot afford to pay for:
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.
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
Tagged A5, Clones, Craggy Island, department of arts heritage and the gaeltacht, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Ulster Canal, waterways, Waterways Ireland
Apologies to folk who have left Comments or otherwise communicated in recent weeks: I’ve been away, most recently at the far end of the Shannon and at Greenwich. I am now beginning to tackle my correspondence.
De Wadden
De Wadden formerly traded to the (Munster) Blackwater and is now displayed in a dry dock at Liverpool. I knew she was there, but I hadn’t known that the Kathleen & May, now on sale, was there too.
Kathleen & May
In Greenwich, I saw a bust of George Biddell Airy, late Astronomer Royal, whose work on the tides of the Shannon Estuary is of such great interest.
George Biddell Airy
Posted in Ashore, Charles Wye Williams, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Foreign parts, Industrial heritage, Ireland, Irish waterways general, Operations, People, Restoration and rebuilding, shannon estuary, Steamers, The cattle trade, Tourism, waterways, Waterways management
Tagged Airy, Blackwater, boats, De Wadden, Ireland, Kathleen & May, Shannon, tide, waterways
I see on this website that the curved building at Grand Canal Harbour in Dublin, is a protected structure.
Here is the roof in 2007:
The roof in 2007
Here is the roof in October 2011:
The roof in October 2011
I have asked the developers for their comments.
Troll on over to WI’s website where you can download the Draft Marketing Strategy 2011–2016. The current version has no images (thank goodness) — and no (or very few) numbers for tangible outcomes.
The annual marketing spend by Waterways Ireland is approximately €1million per annum with additional funding of approximately €2million being leveraged from other organisations to support the inland waterways sector.
“But what good came of it at last?” quoth Little Peterkin.
“Why, that I cannot tell,” said he, “but ’twas a famous victory.”
Irish waterways history 