Brian Goggin's Inland Blog
As far as I can see, there are only seven places on the Irish inland waterways where you can park your boat at a diesel pump and fill up with marked gas oil (green diesel) from a seller who is…
#inland waterways – John Martin, Chief Executive of Waterways Ireland, was due to retire in March 2013, but is staying on until his successor arrives. This is an opportune moment to look at his achievements. The definition of Irish waterways…
There's an old joke about a Scottish hellfire preacher trying to educate his flock about the punishment awaiting them if they do not mend their ways. He tells them that the ungodly will find themselves in the flames of hell,…
For the last couple of years, we've done some long-distance boating; indeed in 2011 we didn't get to Lough Derg until the end of September. So we decided that, this year, we were not going anywhere north of Portumna: we…
I wrote recently that the terms of Waterways Ireland's licence agreement for the "Extended Term Serviced Mooring Vacancies" at Shannon Harbour could be easily adapted for use elsewhere on the canals. That might allow WI to begin to bring the…
I was slightly surprised to find that numbers of registered boats increased on both the Shannon and the Erne last year. The Erne ended the year with 5401 boats, up from 5192 in 2010 and 4659 in 2007; the Shannon…
The most important event of the inland waterways year occurred on 10 November 2011. It was the publication by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform of the document Infrastructure and Capital Investment 2012–16 Medium Term Exchequer FrameworkWaterways Ireland, and…
Here we are, first week in June and we haven't been boating yet. We're having some major reconstruction done at Riversdale, on the Shannon–Erne Waterway, and we decided to go a bit further than we originally intended. You know how…
As the cuts begin to bite, it may be time to look at the British direction for our waterways, writes Brian J Goggin Foreign weatherThe other night, I went to the inaugural meeting of a new lobby group called the…
With the boat laid up for winter, there’s a chance to think about some of the smaller and less-well-known navigations In winter, when the vegetation has died back, it’s easier to see hidden features, and (if it’s not raining) the…
As the cuts begin to bite, it may be time to look at the British direction for our waterways, writes Brian J Goggin Foreign weatherThe other night, I went to the inaugural meeting of a new lobby group called the…
With the boat laid up for winter, there's a chance to think about some of the smaller and less-well-known navigations on our inland waterways. In winter, when the vegetation has died back, it's easier to see hidden features, and (if…
Always a late starter, Brian J Goggin was surprised to find a deserted Lough Derg on a sunny weekend outing We've never thought of ourselves as early birds: as our boat has no heating, our boating season starts rather late.…
I started off this column in the last issue by talking about the influence of increased rainfall on inland waterways infrastructure and its users. I wasn't expecting a record-breaking deluge, but that's what we got in November. I live near…
Not just cruisingEvery boat-owner on the inland waterways benefits from a large subsidy from the taxpayer, who pays the vast bulk of the costs of running the inland waterways system. If that subsidy is to be justified, and indeed to…
We spent the first fortnight in July travelling up the Shannon and back. It rained on most days, but there were compensations We passed down through Shannonbridge just a week before its chimneys were demolished. I was sorry to lose…
