On the waterways of Ireland: A quiet success of peace on the island

Some 800,000 people made cross-Border journeys by cruiser, bicycle or foot - a story that Waterways Ireland’s chief John McDonagh says must be told more

Alan Lindley, who works at Waterways Ireland, says his family goes back seven generations of working on the canals, at Ballincloghan in Co Offaly.
Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill
Alan Lindley, who works at Waterways Ireland, says his family goes back seven generations of working on the canals, at Ballincloghan in Co Offaly. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill

Eight generations of Alan Lindley’s family have been lock-keepers on Ireland’s canals, ever since his ancestor, James Mitchell, started to work on the construction of the Grand Canal in 1798.

Plans had existed for decades, but construction by Henry, Mullins & McMahon took on a new urgency in the 1790s as the British authorities sought ways of quickly moving troops west to face the threat of French invasion.

The canal did not get to Rahan, near Tullamore, Co Offaly until 1802, but then Mitchell was offered the job of keeper there of the 30th lock, a two-storey house and an acre of land. There, the Mitchells stayed.

Lindley’s grandfather Walt served in Rahan for five decades from 1931, until Alan’s mother, Louise, took over in 1981, one of three women lock-keepers, along with Patsey Cummins from Ballycowan outside Tullamore and Essie Conroy in Robertstown.

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Like his family’s earlier generations, Alan Lindley, who was persuaded to come back from London to take the job, is working for an all-island body in charge of Ireland’s canals and inland waterways, as happened before independence.

Waterways Ireland, a cross-Border body set up by the Belfast Agreement, is headed by John McDonagh from its headquarters in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, in charge of 1,100km of canals, rivers and lakes, along with 700km of greenways.

Last year, 3.5 million people spent time on its waters and land, with 800,000 making cross-Border journeys by cruiser, bicycle, or on foot while they were doing it – a little-known statistic, McDonagh is the first to say, and one it must do more to tell.

If greenways are increasingly popular, the numbers taking cruising holidays has fallen, partly because of Covid, or prices, but also because of tougher times for the Shannon’s best clients, the Germans.

Waterways Ireland
Graphic: Waterways Ireland

Like every public body, the economic crash from 2008 hurt, leading to a sharp fall in staff and work done, with rebuilding only beginning again in 2018, McDonagh says.

“Funding has grown every year for the last five years, by 5, 6, 7 per cent. The number of staff is growing, and as it does, we can take on more projects, so you’re into this virtuous circle,” he says.

Sometimes, the gaps in the expertise in an organisation whose very foundations are based on water are surprising; it is only now hiring its very first hydrologist, for example.

Ecologists, extra project managers and engineers are coming on board, too, he says, and there is no shortage of work to be done since capital spending was halved for a decade after the crash.

“Certain things didn’t get done,” McDonagh says, pointing to plans to move staff from a “pretty run down and not fit for purpose” property in Tullamore where canal locks are still made, to a €7 million property outside the Offaly town.

A master plan for the property to be vacated has been produced, together with Offaly County Council and Grafton Architects, though Waterways “is not a developer, and doesn’t see itself talking on risk”, so co-operation with others is likely

One of six all-Ireland North/South implementation bodies established in 1999 under the Belfast Agreement – the landmark 1998 Northern Ireland peace deal – Waterways is funded by grants from the Irish Government and Stormont, on an 85/15 split.

The division reflects the share of the waters in each jurisdiction: the Erne, the Shannon, the connection between the two, the Lower Bann, along with the Grand and Royal canals from Dublin to the Midlands.

The eight inland waterways under the control of the cross-border body - known as ‘navigations’ in the terminology - are the Bann, Ulster Canal, Erne, Shannon Erne, Shannon, Grand Canal, Royal Canal, and the Barrow

In 2022, Waterways had €58 million of income, including €46 million of current and capital grants, €12 million from other sources, though it finished with a €3.6 million deficit because of the need to deal with future legal cases.

The upcoming cases include one from Elias Adane, the homeless Eritrean man left paralysed in January 2020 when he was injured when a mechanical digger cleared tents on the Grand Canal, following an eviction order.

Ireland’s refugee crisis has caused major problems for Waterways, which found itself dragged into controversy when asylum seekers pitched tents this year after the State was unable to offer accommodation.

Currently, there are no groups of asylum seekers along the canals, though for months Waterways erected fencing along lengths of the Grand Canal near Leeson Street and Baggot Street to deter the erection of tents.

Tents between Mount Street Bridge and McKenney Bridge in Dublin earlier this year. Photograph: Sam Boal/Collins Photos

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Tents between Mount Street Bridge and McKenney Bridge in Dublin earlier this year. Photograph: Sam Boal/Collins Photos .

Problems could happen again, McDonagh says, when asked if there could be “500 tents there tomorrow”. “No, we can’t control it,” he tells The Irish Times, though Waterways had 24/7 cover on the canals during the height of the crisis.

“That worked well because the alternative previously had been that a tent encampment would appear in the middle of the night and we were coming to it reactively, and so was everybody else so (it was) very difficult to manage,” he goes on.

Now, it plans to upgrade the canal’s towpath along Wilton Terrace.

The crisis took its toll.

“We were the ham in the sandwich for quite a while. Truthfully, it was a very difficult situation. First of all, it’s not what we’re here to do, but beyond that there was an appreciation that there are human beings involved,” McDonagh says.

Waterways, he says, must produce its own income stream from its lands, including leasing ground to companies that want to exploit canals built along straight lines for cabling, or other such uses.

A 10-year master plan exists for the organisation that will transform its operations.

“The biggest opportunity for us is probably within Dublin,” says McDonagh, who has been chief executive for five years.

Work on repairing the first of three 1850s lock gates in the Grand Canal Basin will finish next year, letting tall ships come in closer to the Dublin city centre than has been possible for a century.

Equally, Waterways has major plans throughout Dublin that will see the Royal and Grand greenways connect, with a 42km offering to cyclists and walkers that will run through Phoenix Park, along with plans for lands owned in Grand Canal Basin.

Or, micro-hydro electricity generation could be possible, so that “ultimately what we’re trying to do is move away” from a funding model that is nearly always dependent upon State authorities.

Navigating such change in a body reporting to both sides of the Border has its challenges, however, as Waterways has tried to modernise hundreds of decades-old bylaws covering everything from poaching to illegal, or unapproved encroachments.

Between June 2023 and February 2024, it held 10 public meetings, had 27 meetings with stakeholders and received 1,799 submissions. Since then, it has drafted and redrafted new byelaws, reducing the increase in fees.

The changes will mean higher charges for those using the canals and rivers, especially houseboat-owners: “There is capacity for 40 houseboats, but there are probably 170 houseboats on the canals,” he says.

Waterways needs to spend €12 million “upfront” to serve houseboat communities, he says: “Because these things weren’t dealt with in the past, you get this legacy effect, so it’s a much harder task today.”

Alan Lindley, who works at Waterways Ireland, says his family goes back seven generations of working on the canals, at Ballincloghan in Co Offaly. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill
Alan Lindley, who works at Waterways Ireland, says his family goes back seven generations of working on the canals, at Ballincloghan in Co Offaly. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill

Now in his 36th year on the canals, Alan Lindley no longer minds the lock at Rahan as generations of his family have done before him. Instead, he works across much of Waterways’ network.

So, will there be a ninth generation of his family at Rahan in the years ahead? Lindley has two sons, James and Robert: “One has finished college and the other is doing the Leaving Certificate.”

“I’d be optimistic one of them might take up the mantle, but we’ll see,” he says.

“I’d like them to be happy and do what they want to do. I’ve enjoyed every year of it, I have to say. In fairness, it’s a good company.”