Longford County council hear WI looking for home for 'unsightly' barge

The “unsightly” barge occupying the dry dock in Clondra “for what seems like forever” was the subject of a discussion at a recent Longford County Council meeting. Waterways Ireland says they are trying to come up with a plan for the vessel after arrangements to donate it to a community group fell through.
Cllr John Brown raised the issue about the Waterways Ireland barge at the November meeting of the authority.

Cllr Brown asked: “There is a barge in the dry dock on a continuous basis for what seems like forever. It's very unsightly, what is being done about it?”
Brian Treacy, Waterways Ireland's North Shannon Senior Engineer, explained why there has been no progress on the vessel: “That is a Waterways Ireland barge. It's one of the traditional barges on the canal. Clondra dry dock is not functional, there needs to be work done on it. It's part of a network of dry docks and we are looking at improving it.

“We have a number of functioning dry docks; two are in Shannon Harbour, one in Athy, and one in Mullingar. In the western end of the Royal Canal there is one, Clondra, and at present it is not functional. Our objective is to get it functional,” he told the local authority members.
The Waterways Ireland Engineer explained the hold up on work on the barge: “There was a plan to give it over to a local group, who were to develop it as a passenger boat on the Shannon, from Lanesnboro, but that plan had problem because of the age of the vessel. It will take an enormous amount of work to repair it, so we are looking for another plan for it.”

Cllr Colm Murray asked when the work on the dry dock would commence.
In his reply Mr Treacy, said it could be undertaken as part of the State body's asset management programme, but suggested that there were other ways it could be approached: “We couldn't put an exact date on it, but we hope to look at it as part of the works for Richmond Harbour and Tarmonbarry to be taken in 2024.”