In the inner Dublin suburb of Ringsend, somebody had fixed a poster about a locally restored section of a former Aran Islands ferry to the MacMahon Bridge over the Grand Canal Basin.
As the Dublin Inquirer reports, the poster read: Come see the restored stern of the Naomh Éanna, an old passenger ferry that once operated between Galway Harbour and the Aran Islands.
In addition, the poster outlined where to see the stern section of the former Córas Iompair Éireann (CIE)-operated passenger, freight, and livestock ferry, which is located at the rear of the Ringsend-Irishtown Community Centre.
The 483-tonne Naomh Éanna (St. Enda) was custom built, and Afloat highlights that it was completed in 1958 in the capital at the Liffey Dockyard, but had lain idle for years in the basin’s graving docks after arriving at the port in 1989. This followed its withdrawal from service the previous year, having failed an inclination test.
During part of its time in the Grand Canal basin, it became a surf shop occupying the freight hold before closing, leaving the aging vessel to decline into a derelict state. The veteran vessel eventually capsized into a partially sunken state at the basin’s Charlotte Quay, from where, in 2014, it was relocated nearby to the Georgian dry dock.
There was a campaign to save the historic vessel from scrapping by Waterways Ireland, as Afloat reported, with plans among them to restore the vessel into a boutique floating hotel in the capital and pleas to the Minister of Transport to return the vessel to Galway Docks as a museum celebrating its maritime and cultural links with the Aran Islands. But all such plans failed, which ultimately led to the small ship sadly being broken up on site in 2023.
However, in January 2024, members of the Ringsend and District Historical Society salvaged the vessel’s stern. Afloat adds, its cruiser-shaped stern displays old Gaelic script lettering of the ship's name (Naom Eanna) and port of registry—(Gallim) Galway.
It was the society’s intention to restore and put on public display—which they did.
The stern sat next to a shed behind the community centre on Tuesday, with its surface covered in a gleaming new coat of green paint.
More on the story here, which outlined a meeting of the council’s South East Area Committee on the future of the restored stern potentially at the new Dodder bridge project.
The only other salvaged section of the old Aran ferry was the bow, which, as Afloat also reported, had been acquired by the Port of Galway, where it was to be restored and displayed on the quays “as a reminder of the historic trading link” between the city and the Aran Islands.
