Ulster Canal - Future

Future

With the success of other canal restoration schemes, a feasibility study on the possible restoration of the canal was carried out by Ferguson and McIlveen in 1998, and revised in 2000. While there are no insurmountable engineering hurdles to such a plan, and a restored canal could bring significant benefits to the local economy, issues such as the size of the locks and the adequacy of the water supply would need to be addressed. The report concluded that the locks should be at least 16 feet (5 m) wide, which would require all the locks to be significantly altered, and there seems little point in restoring a canal which was an abject failure without addressing the reasons why it was so.

While restoration has its detractors, a look at a map of the Irish waterways shows the obvious benefit to the waterways network which it would bring, particularly since the restoration of the Shannon–Erne Waterway, which reconnected Lough Erne to the River Shannon, and was opened on 23 May 1994. Rather than being a true restoration, it involved the construction of a state-of-the-art waterway along a historic route.

At the North/South Ministerial Council meeting on 17 July 2007, it was announced that the governments would work towards the restoration of the stretch of the canal linking the town of Clones, in County Monaghan, to Upper Lough Erne. The cost of the development would be €35 million, paid for by the Irish Exchequer. In August 2010, Waterways Ireland published an Ulster Canal Restoration Plan, an Environmental Report and an Appropriate Assessment. In September 2010 it held two Public Information Days, one in Clones, Co. Monaghan, and one in Newtownbutler, Co. Fermanagh, and invited written comments on its plans by 30 September 2010. It is now unclear whether the scheme will be paid for by the Irish Exchequer or by the sale of Waterways Ireland assets. Reports on the proposed restoration are available on the website of the Irish government department responsible for Waterways Ireland, the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. The Northern Ireland department responsible for Waterways Ireland, the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure, does not mention the Ulster Canal on its website.