Latest News 25th March
The new houseboat moorings at Shannon Harbour are nearing completion. It has to be said that they look most impressive with water and power points being installed and new pathways, stonewalls, and even a pavement to the village. The only other moorings on the Grand Canal with comparable facilities are in Ringsend Basin at its eastern terminus.
There are three finger jetties - the assumption is that these will provide a total of six moorings - with the potential for two further moorings on the new quaysides. These do not appear to be part of the initial project, perhaps they will be facilitated once the finger jetties are full? The rumour at Shannon Harbour is, to qualify for a mooring, a boat will have to have a 240 volt hook up installed and a holding tank for sewage. The demand for a sewage holding tank would suggest that the pump out facility in the harbour itself is to be cleared for access, good news for all users of the canal.
In the hope that some real clarity could be brought to this piece, Irboa approached Waterways Ireland for more information about the moorings last week. To date we have not received a reply.
Latest News 25th March
Inevitably, Sallins is the source of the latest news once again.
Those members in attendance at the meeting between Sallins boat dwellers (both members and non members of Irboa) and Waterways Ireland (WI) on the 9th March, will recall the concern expressed about the suitability of the chosen length of bank WI wanted to move boats to in order to facilitate a five day mooring zone in Sallins Harbour. The meeting was told that no boats would be moved until the bank had been surveyed and declared fit. The survey has now been completed and WI have agreed that the bank is unfit for the purpose of long term mooring and considerable dredging will be required to make it safe.
The meeting of the March 9th was informed that the provision of services for live-aboard moorings was always going to be ‘subject to resources’. At present, there are no resources to dredge this length of bank. The Inspector of Navigation, Shane Anderson, has made it clear to members of Irboa's committee that he will not move any boats until this work is undertaken. So, certainly in the short term, boats can remain where they are on the harbour wall. Irboa expects to be informed when this situation changes.
Summary of Irboa meeting held in Boss Byrnes, Sallins on Tuesday 8th March
Concerned by recent developments with Waterways Ireland’s declared plans to remove live-aboards from the harbour wall in Sallins, a meeting of Sallins live-aboard boaters was held on Tuesday 8th March. Keen to both support the Sallins community and to enquire about their own locations, members of other live-aboard communities were also welcomed. Following an approach from the Irboa committee, Shane Anderson, the Regional Inspector of Navigation was joined by representatives of WI’s legal and engineering departments to address concerns and answer questions about what is planned in Sallins and beyond. The meeting was attended by approximately 35 boaters.
Dawn Livingstone, of WI’s Legal and Planning department, explained that Sallins had been chosen as the second pilot project after the installation of live-aboard moorings in Shannon Harbour. WI’s intent is to clear Sallins harbour wall under the five day rule in order for visiting boats to moor during the boating season - the five day rule would not apply between October and mid March. In order for this to happen people living on boats in the harbour would be re-located to moorings along the canal west of Sallins bridge. These boats would initially be required to pay 100 Euros p.a for a license exempting them from the five day rule, a sum that will increase as services are added to the mooring with a likely ceiling of approximately 1200 Euros p.a. for a fully serviced mooring. It was also stated that Waterways Ireland were looking to offer live-aboards the security of long term leases of between 10 and 15 years once the scheme was up and running. In a follow up phone call from Irboa the following day, Shane Anderson confirmed that all live-aboards in Sallins will be expected to pay for a five day exemption license though those on unserviced moorings would obviously be subject to a smaller fee. He was not asked if this fee would apply beyond Sallins and made no mention of it.
Concerns were expressed from the floor that the shallow water and the sloping bank in the the area being proposed for mooring were far from ideal without a jetty. WI’s engineer, Mervyn Hamilton, stated that he was unaware of this and he would need to research its suitability and a survey of that length would be completed before any boats were moved onto it. Which brought the inevitable question of when jetties, complete with power and water, would be put in. While agreeing in principle that in an ideal world these services would be installed, WI were unable to commit to a date preferring to state that ‘all services were subject to resources’, including the sewage pump out facility long promised for the centre of the village. Many of the Sallins boaters have lived on the harbour walls connected to electricity and water for several years and to hear that they were now expected to pay for an unserviced mooring on a rough bit of ground outside of the village caused consternation. What followed was a lively conversation between the floor and WI’s representatives.
The meeting concluded with the Irboa Chairperson, Ger Loughlin, thanking WI’s staff for taking the time to both discuss their plans and for listening to the many concerns expressed from the floor.
While the meeting left both parties aware that any transition to regulated charged moorings is going to take both time and negotiation, it is also significant in being the first time Waterways Ireland has recognised and addressed the live-aboard community as a body.
IRBOA launches website.
The representative association for residential boat owners in Ireland, IRBOA, has launched its new website, www.irboa.com. The site is designed to serve as a valuable source of information for people interested in houseboat lifestyles in Ireland and as a resource for members throughout the country.
IRBOA members have been living on canals and rivers in Ireland on converted barges and purpose built vessels for many years, with the largest communities in the east of the country in places like Sallins in Kildare and Hazelhatch in North County Dublin.
Speaking at the launch, IRBOA Chairman Ger Loughlin said, "we welcome Waterways Ireland's recognition of residential boats on the system and their commitment to developing residential moorings". The first of the new facilities is currently under construction in Shannon Harbour in Co. Offaly.
Houseboat living is a well established lifestyle choice throughout Europe and has grown in Ireland over the past decade with people from all walks of life taking to the waterways. IRBOA has been established to represent the views of residential boat owners and to assist people in making the move on to the water.
Waterways Ireland new by-laws consultation process.
IRBOA has made a detailed submission to Waterways Ireland in November as part of phase one of the public consultation process. While the recognition of houseboat lifestyles was broadly welcomed, many of the provisions in the proposed draft will, in our view, make it expensive to live on a boat and make boating in general a more restricted activity with over regulation and a fines regime for breaches of new by-laws.
A copy of the submission is available to all members. Please go to the contact page to request a copy.
IRBOA adopts its Constitution.
At the AGM in January members voted to adopt the constitution governing how the association operates.
A copy of the Constitution is available to all members. Please go to the contact page to request a copy.