Shannon Estuary and River

The newly-built Ilen at Foynes on 22nd July 1926, as recorded in his own highly personal style by Harbour Master Hugh O’Brien

Trading Ketch Ilen to Make Foynes Her Base as 2021 Programme Gets Under Way in May

14th April 2021 Shannon Estuary

Global circumnavigator and sailing ship designer Conor O’Brien (1880-1952) inevitably saw his most noted vessels, the 42ft world-girdler Saoirse and the 56ft trading ketch Ilen, being closely associated by the rest of the world with their birthplace in Baltimore. But…

Limerick's Ketch Ilen Prepares for Kingship Research & Training Programme in Shannon Estuary

25th March 2021 Boatyards

The good ship Ilen, the 56ft Trading Ketch of Limerick, has been in the slipway cradle at Liam Hegarty's boatyard in Oldcourt upriver of Baltimore in West Cork this week, enjoying the relatively dry weather and the attention of her…

Wakame or Japanese kelp in Greystones Harbour in County Wicklow

Scientists Ask Boat Owners to Keep Lookout for Japanese Kelp in Irish Harbours & Marinas

23rd March 2021 Marine Wildlife

Scientists from NUI Galway and Seasearch Ireland are asking divers and marina users to keep an eye out for Undaria pinnatifida, commonly known as Wakame or Japanese kelp. This species was first recorded in Belfast Lough, Northern Ireland in 2012,…

The Dublin Bay 21 Naneen on her first sail after restoration, slipping effortlessly along on the Shannon Estuary off Kilrush

Dublin Bay 21 Class Restoration in Kilrush Honoured in Annual Wood Awards Ireland

13th January 2021 Shannon Estuary

The continuing restoration of the Dublin Bay 21 class of 1902, in the longterm project guided by Hal Sisk and Fionan de Barra of Dun Laoghaire, has seen the work of Master Shipwright Stephen Morris of Kilrush and his team…

Pat Keating, CEO of Shannon Foynes Port and Paul Doherty, MD Gavin & Doherty Geosolutions’ pictured at Foynes Port |

Shannon Estuary Has Potential to Become Global Hub for Floating Offshore Wind Generation

8th December 2020 Shannon Estuary

The Shannon Estuary has the potential to become a global hub for floating offshore wind according to a major new study. If such a project were to be progressed, writes the Limerick Leader, it could attract up to 12 billion…

Local products….the 25ft Shannon Hooker Sally O'Keeffe (left) was community-built in 2015 in Querrin on the Loop Head Peninsula near Kilrush under the guidance of Steve Morris, while the new 24ft Galway Bay Gleoiteog Naomh Fanchea has been built in Steve's busy boatyard in Kilrush itself.

Electric Power Adds a New Element to Kilrush-Built Traditional Galway Bay Gleoiteog

12th November 2020 Boatyards

Steve Morris of Kilrush Boatyard and his lead boat-builder Dan Mill are busy these days, as their team have two further Dublin Bay 21s under construction for the Hal Sisk/Fionan de Barra project, and this week they launched the new…

File image of Kilrush RNLI’s Atlantic 85 inshore lifeboat

Kilrush Lifeboat Launches to Capsized Catamaran in Shannon Estuary

9th November 2020 Shannon Estuary

Kilrush RNLI’s volunteer crew were called out yesterday morning (Sunday 8 November) to a report of a capsized catamaran drifting near Corlis Point on the Shannon Estuary. The lifeboat crew launched within minutes of the 11.30am call and quickly reached…

Friends of the Irish Environment (FIE) had in 2018 initiated its judicial review challenge to the extension of permission for the terminal, which includes four large tanks, jetties to receive ships, and associated works, at Kilcolgan, near Tarbert in north Kerry.

Gas Terminal Permission on Shannon Estuary is Overturned by High Court

9th November 2020 Shannon Estuary

Formal orders by the High Court have been made in overturning An Bord Pleanála’s extension of planning permission for the Shannon LNG controversial gas terminal. Mr Justice Garrett Simons made the orders on Monday arising from a recent decision of…

Port of Foynes: re-opening the 40km Limerick-Foynes line, closed in 2002, would cost €45 million. Above AFLOAT adds the bulker Foxtrot berthed at the port and the derelict railway station located in north Co. Limerick

Limerick-Foynes Rail Freight Line Reopening ‘Makes Sense’, Says Minister

2nd October 2020 Shannon Estuary

The Limerick-Foynes rail line is the focus of a plan to revive the link which will boost efforts to develop the Shannon Estuary as a centre for shipping and energy. Minister for Transport, Eamon Ryan, told the Dáil recently that…

The new ship, 2015 built Mainport Geo is 50 m LOA

Cork-Based Shipping Company Mainport Enters Offshore Wind & Research Markets

28th September 2020 Power From the Sea

Cork based shipping company, Irish Mainport Holdings, has announced its entry into the Offshore Wind Sector with its investment in a 50-metre Survey and Research Ship, the Mainport Geo, and at the same time buying a share of Wicklow based…

Ilen departs Foynes, on passage for Kilronan in the Aran Islands. Conor O'Brien – Ilen's designer in 1926 – ensured that all his major voyages essentially started from Foynes, his home port where he lived on Foynes Island

Limerick Ketch Ilen's "Cargo Cruise" Delivers the Goods on Ireland's Atlantic Coast

8th September 2020 Shannon Estuary

The restored 1926-built Conor O'Brien-designed 56ft ketch Ilen of Limerick found the Atlantic in a challenging mood last week as she undertook a combined educational, cultural, and commercial cargo voyage. Yet despite the vagaries of the Irish weather and the…

Shannon Foynes Port: it achieved a record profit before tax of €4.9m last year. Above Afloat adds is bulk-carrier Sunrise Serenity with assistance from Foynes based operator Celtic Tugs, part of the Mainport Group.

Shannon Foynes Port Achieved Record Profit Last Year

2nd September 2020 Shannon Estuary

The government-owned Shannon Foynes Port achieved a record profit before tax of €4.9 million last year, its annual report shows. The port's profit, which was up from €4.4 million in 2018, was achieved despite an overall reduction in tonnages on…

Back at her real home after 93 years – the 56ft 1926-built restored Limerick Trading ketch Ilen takes up her berth in Foynes for the first time in 94 years yesterday (Friday) evening. On the Foynes YC pontoon are (left to right) Ilen Project Manager Gary Mac Mahon, and Conor O’Brien family relatives Rob, Alison and Stephen O'Brien. Conor O’Brien’s modest house of Barneen on Foynes Island, in which he designed both Saoirse and Ilen and spent his last days in 1952, is just visible above Ilen’s bowsprit.

Ilen Crosses Shannon Estuary from Kilrush Through Tarbert’s “Waterspout Way” on Historic Return to Foynes

29th August 2020 Shannon Estuary

The 56ft Trading Ketch Ilen has had a busy couple of days of cultural and educational activities in Kilrush during her current two-week cargo cruise, with performances including shows and workshops with noted Limerick Boy and contemporary dancer Tobi Omoteso.…

The trading ketch Ilen berthed in County Clare where traditional sail traders berthed before her, at the quayside in Kilrush

Limerick Trading Ketch Ilen Illuminates the Meaning of the Mighty Shannon Estuary

27th August 2020 Shannon Estuary

The Shannon Estuary is king size and clearly defined. Where some other great rivers gradually broaden as they near the sea, sometimes dissipating further into a delta, the Shannon Estuary affirms its individuality with a rapid change as it emerges…

Tug Celtic Fergus underway on a flood tide on the Shannon Estuary joined by a bow-riding bottlenose dolphin

Tug Joined by Bowriding Bottlenose Dolphin On Shannon Estuary Prior to Dry-Docking in Cork Harbour

10th August 2020 Shannon Estuary

Cork based Irish Mainport Holding's Celtic Fergus, a tug stationed on the Shannon Estuary is currently dry-docking in Rushbrooke having departed this day last week bound for the Doyle Shipping Group facility in Cork Harbour, writes Jehan Ashmore. It was…

The revived Dublin Bay 21 Class will remain true to their original colours, but their order of restoration is non-numerical, as Number 6 – Naneen, centre - has been the first to sail again, as she was the only one to be built in Dun Laoghaire

Dublin Bay 21’s Black Beauty Shines Again in Kilrush

16th June 2020 Dun Laoghaire Harbour News

The complex project of restoring the Alfred Mylne-designed Dublin Bay 21 class – which first raced in 1903 and ceased racing in 1986 – has been in hiatus during the Lockdown. But now Hal Sisk and Fionan de Barra have…