Shannon Estuary and River

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 Ilen

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 Ilen

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 Ilen

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 Historic Boats

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…

Marina Manager Simon McGibney (left) and Blue Flag project manager George McGibney with one of two new Blue Flags for Kilrush Marina and Portmagee Pontoon

Kilrush Marina & Portmagee Pontoon Awarded Blue Flags on the West Coast

11th June 2020 Shannon Estuary

Kilrush Maritime Ltd has received two Blue Flags for its operations on the West coast of Ireland at Kilrush Marina on the Shannon Estuary and Portmagee pontoons in County Kerry. Kilrush Marina, in Co. Clare, which was built in 1991…

Galway city and its marine industry is likely to be the most severely affected, according to the report

Atlantic Seaboard Harder Hit Than East Coast by Economic Affect of Pandemic, Report Says

5th May 2020 Coronavirus and Boating

Dublin may have the highest number of cases of Covid-19 infection, but it is least exposed of all Irish counties to the economic impacts, a new report says. The Atlantic seaboard reliance on tourism and recreation, including the marine sector,…

“The light of other days…..” The Dublin Bay 21 Naneen sails for the first time in 33 years in the otherworldly illumination of December sunshine on the Shannon Estuary. Photo: Kate Griffiths

Dublin Bay 21 'Naneen' Sails Again as Howth 17s Celebrate Restoration in Growing Irish Classics Revival

6th December 2019 Howth 17

Sunshine in December imparts a surreal look to everything it illuminates with its vivid low-angled delineation. And for anyone who happened to be on the Shannon Estuary between Kilrush and Scattery Island on Monday afternoon this week, the sense of…

Shannon Foynes Port Company (SFPC) has called for the reopening of the rail-link to the Port of Foynes, the main terminal on the Shannon Estuary where above AFLOAT adds a project cargo of wind turbine blades where discharged from the vessel earlier this year.

SFPC Press for Reopening of Foynes Port Rail Link

6th December 2019 Shannon Estuary

Since the announcement in October by Transport Minister, Shane Ross TD, of the €450m project to upgrade the N69 between Limerick and Foynes by 2026, pressure has been growing for funding to be provided for the currently mothballed rail line…

Irish Sailing President Jack Roy (left) raises the IS Training Centre flag at KIlrush Marina watched by Training Centre Principal and Marina Manager Simon McGibney

Irish Sailing President Officially Opens New Kilrush Marina Training Centre

28th November 2019 ISA

Irish Sailing President Jack Roy officially opened the Kilrush Marina Training Centre on the Shannon Estuary in County Clare last Sunday. “This is another great addition to the Clare region and an addition to the services provided at Kilrush Marina”,…

New 22-Foot Yacht Built in Kilrush & Based on the Galway Hooker

17th October 2019 Galway Hookers

When I walked into Adrian O’Connell’s office in Kilrush Boatyard on the edge of the Shannon Estuary in County Clare, a photograph on the wall caught my attention – a boat sailing at speed, red sails dramatic atop a black…

At the Port of Foynes is pictured: Mark Cullen, Assistant CEO of the HSA, Pat Breen, Minister of State for Trade, Employment, Business, EU Digital Single Market and Data Protection and Pat Keating, CEO of Shannon Foynes Port Company, who were on hand recently to see the quality health and safety standards in operation at the port.

Another Record As Shannon Foynes Port Company Delivers Profit Levels

27th September 2019 Shannon Estuary

It was another record performance achieved at Shannon Foynes Port Company (SFPC) as the western port revealed its annual report for 2018. According to SFPC, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were €6.8million. As for operating profits in…

Dreams of long ago are re-born with relevance for today. The revived Dublin Bay 21 Class being re-created in Kilrush Boatyard will give an accessible introduction to classic wooden boat sailing in Dun Laoghaire in a way that is in tune with the modern trend towards non-ownership

Kilrush on the Shannon Estuary Shows the Way for Dun Laoghaire – Again

20th September 2019 W M Nixon

In 1828, when the recently re-named and still only semi-finished harbour of Kingstown on Dublin Bay staged its first regatta, it certainly gave an indication of the transformed place’s potential for waterborne sport. Yet it was not until 1831 that…

The Dublin Bay 21s: The World's Oldest Cruiser Racer Class

19th September 2019 Tom MacSweeney

I won’t be challenging Hal Sisk’s confident declaration that he is Chairman of “the world’s oldest cruiser-racer class!” His offer to anyone to challenge him sounded across Kilrush Boatyard to where I had driven over 400 kilometres from Cork to…

A general bulk-carrier AFLOAT adds docked at the Port of Foynes on the Shannon Estuary where also above in the background (top right) is Foynes Yacht Club which last month received tourists on board tenders from cruiseship Prinsendam on its final visit while at anchor of Foynes Island.

Shannon Port Company is Powering the Estuary Region

1st July 2019 Shannon Estuary

In the mid-west the Shannon Foynes Port Company is pursuing an unprecedented investment programme at pace to transform the Shannon Estuary into a major economic hub and act as an economic counter-pole to Dublin, consistent with Government’s National Planning Framework.…