Brian J Goggin looks forward to the reopening of the Royal Canal
As I write, various IWAI branches are preparing for end-of-season cruises. Some intrepid inland boaters (equipped with wheelhouses and heaters) keep going all year round: one group of Heritage Boat Association enthusiasts holds an end-of-season rally on Lough Derg after Christmas, with a start-of-season rally the next day.Warning on water
Maybe the weather will be better over Christmas than it has been so far this year. Wet weather doesn't just depress boaters' spirits: it also depresses boating activity, certainly for that year and perhaps in subsequent years, amongst both owners and hirers. The traffic figures for the Shannon and the Shannon-Erne Waterway, kindly supplied by Waterways Ireland, do suggest that activity has been down this year.
Strong flows on the Shannon, as a result of the rainfall, were another problem. There were many reports of boats being pinned across bridges by the flow of the current. I do not know of any central source of information on the number and severity of these incidents, but perhaps it's time there was one. I don't mean to suggest that we need a full investigation of every incident by the Marine Casualty Investigation Board, but it would be useful to be able to measure the extent of the problem — and perhaps even to do something about it.
One difficulty is that the Shannon is badly designed for its current uses and level of traffic: bridges (where current speeds up) close to locks (where boats must slow down), quays and pontoons close to bridges and locks so that there are always boat movements across the traffic streams, single navigation arches with restricted visibility, and pontoons above bridges forcing boats to make awkward approaches. If we are going to have strong flows every summer, some re-engineering may be required; Waterways Ireland's new booms at weirs and at Killaloe Bridge are welcome improvements, but we may need extra navigation arches and fewer pontoons close to bridges.
In the short term, though, perhaps more could be done to provide information and warnings to boaters, and especially to hirers and others with relatively little experience. On the Thames, large yellow warning boards are shown at locks to warn boaters that the flow is increasing or to alert them when it is decreasing; unpowered boats are advised to moor and powered boats are advised to seek safe moorings. The next stage is large red boards saying 'Caution: Strong Stream', which means all boats are advised not to navigate. There is also a telephone floodline giving recorded information.
Waterways Ireland (WI) does issue warnings, but the question is whether the warnings are reaching (or getting through to) those who need them most. The Shannon has many fewer locks than the Thames, so there are fewer places where warnings could be placed; WI may need to think of new ways of getting the information out.
It would also be useful if they could provide more precise information: for example, it would be nice to know the speed of the current at places like Shannon Grove and under the navigation arches of bridges.
Offaly hits the right note
Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann is a traditional music event organised by Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, and for the past two years it has been held in Tullamore. The Offaly Branch of IWAI has taken advantage of this to encourage more boats to use the Grand Canal: it has organised Float to the Fleadh, a convoy from Shannon Harbour to Tullamore. This year, it even persuaded three of the Shannon cruiser hire firms, Silverline, Emerald Star and CarrickCraft, to allow Fleadh-goers to hire boats and take them along the canal to Tullamore.The event was a magnificent success, with over 80 boats in Tullamore for the Fleadh. The very presence of the boats increased awareness of the canal, and Offaly Branch enhanced the effect by arranging events and ensuring media coverage.
If the Fleadh returns to Tullamore in 2009, another Float event will be arranged. But Offaly's initiative provides a guideline for other IWAI branches, showing the advantage of linking in with major non-waterway events. Thus next year, for example, IWAI's North Barrow Branch, based in Athy, may be able to link in with the National Ploughing Championships, which will be held on a site between the Athy/Stradbally road and the Barrow Line of the Grand Canal.
The trip to the Fleadh wasn't altogether uneventful, for many boats were travelling on the weekend before the Fleadh began, when we had one of the heaviest downpours on record. The 30km Long Level above Ballycommon (east of Tullamore) received very large amounts of water, only some of which could be released via the usual overflows. Accordingly, it had to be drained westward, down the canal, over 40km to the Shannon.
Waterways Ireland staff worked throughout the weekend, including both Saturday and Sunday nights, with four racks open on all gates from Ballycommon to the Shannon: an unprecedented operation that prevented flooding over large areas. The resulting flow on the canal was such that navigation had to be stopped; the boats heading for the Fleadh were directed to Pollagh, where they moored safely until the flow subsided.
Reopening the RoyalFor Waterways Ireland, the big event for 2009, all going well, will be the reopening of the Royal Canal. It runs from Spencer Dock through Maynooth, Kilcock, Enfield, Kinnegad, Mullingar, Ballynacargy and Abbeyshrule to join the Shannon at Richmond Harbour, near Tarmonbarry. Completed in 1817, it was not very successful commercially, and in 1845 it was bought by the Midland Great Western Railway which wanted the wayleaves for its track: the railway line follows the canal closely as far as Mullingar.
Although the MGWR did not particularly want the canal itself, it wasn't allowed to close it. But traffic gradually declined, except during the Emergency (World War 2), when turf was carried to Dublin to replace the coal that the UK refused to supply. When L.T.C. Rolt travelled on the canal just after WW2, there were only two traders left, and the last of them, James Leech of Killucan, stopped carrying in 1951. The canal was officially closed to navigation in 1961, and since then the Royal Canal Amenity Group has been fighting for its restoration.
The canal probably has more pubs along it than the Grand. It has fine stonework, an aqueduct 100 feet in the air, nice harbours and other attractions, including (now) an automatic lifting bridge at Begnagh, which scans the canal seeking boats and lifts when it sees one coming. The locks out of Dublin, up from Spencer Dock to Cabra, are hard work, but then there is the attractive stretch past Ashtown and Dunsink followed by the dramatic crossing of the M50 at Blanchardstown.
New sector gates are being installed at Spencer Dock to control access from the Liffey and to counter flooding. In Co Longford, where the local authority installed low culverted road-crossings in many places, the last of the culverts, at Lyneen, will be replaced by a fixed bridge. Richmond Harbour will be closed this winter for maintenance and some other minor works are underway; it is even possible that an improved water supply, from Lough Ennell, will be made available.
At first, WI will have to control traffic and monitor the banks closely to ensure that they are standing up to the traffic: most of the Royal boats, in the old days, were horse-drawn. But WI suggested, at a meeting in April 2008, that there will be a series of events next summer, from Dublin to the western end, after which traffic will once again be admitted from the Shannon. Unfortunately WI was unable to provide us with any details of decisions made since April, so we cannot say exactly what will be happening on what dates.
Northern exposure for WIThe best way of getting information about what Waterways Ireland is doing is to look on the website of the Northern Ireland Assembly. Some information about WI's doings, north and south of the border, is available on the House of Lords website, generally as a result of a question from John Dunn Laird, Baron Laird of Artigarvan, but he has been rather quiet since April 2007. Waterways Ireland is occasionally mentioned in the Oireachtas, but its doings are largely ignored in the southern legislature.
In Northern Ireland, however, the Committee for Culture, Arts and Leisure holds regular hearings, received reports from the relevant minister and publishes full information on its website http://www.niassembly.gov.uk. In September, Gregory Campbell, the NI Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure, reported to the Committee on July's meeting of the North/South Ministerial Council (Inland Waterways Sectoral Format). The NI representatives were the Minister for Regional Development, Conor Murphy, and Mr Campbell; Éamon Ó Cuív, Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, represented the Irish government. The meeting received a report from WI's Chief Executive, John Martin.
The report said that, since October 2007, WI had installed 86m of moorings on the Royal Canal and on the Shannon, 283m on the Erne and 36m on the Lower Bann. WI's new HQ building, in Enniskillen, was on time and on budget. It intended to reopen the Royal in 2009, to improve other navigations and to complete "investigations and construction of extensions on the Shannon navigation". WI has been consulting landowners and other interests along the line of the Ulster Canal from the River Finn (Lough Erne) to Clones; it has "commenced procedures to have the preliminary design undertaken and [proposes] to take forward the land acquisition in advance of letting the contract". It intends to register all its property, first assessing what the process might need, and it has carried out some marketing.
WI's strategy has "five marketing objectives, which are: awareness creation; development of a corporate identity; promoting greater use of the waterways; working in partnership with other bodies; and building a platform for sustained development".
The Committee discussed the report of the meeting, with questions to the Minister on the timescale for reopening the Ulster Canal, the slight under-representation of Protestants amongst the 76 permanent WI employees in Northern Ireland, potential for development of the Lower Bann and Lough Neagh, the effect of currency fluctuations and of the "pressures on public-expenditure budgets in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland".
In that context, it should be noted that Brian Lenihan's budget in October 2008 involved cuts in provision for pensioners, in certain education and health services and in the estimates for agriculture, transport and arts, sport and tourism. However, the estimate for Waterways Ireland's capital and current expenditure is the same as it was last year. According to WI's current Corporate Plan, operating revenue — which includes what boaters pay — will amount to e440,000 in each of the years 2008, 2009 and 2010; current expenditure in those years is expected to be e38,550,000, e39,550,000 and e41,330,000 respectively.
Published in Afloat December 08/January 09 Annual
