Published: Wednesday, 1st September, 2010 5:00pm

Benefits to flow from new Ulster Canal plan

Gerry Darby, project co-ordinator, Clones Regeneration Partnership, and Paddy Boylan, Clones Development Society, at the Ulster Canal stores, Cavan road, Clones, where the new 40-berth marina will be located.

"The re-opening of the Ulster Canal has the capacity to transform Clones," is the confident belief of Gerry Darby, project co-ordinator with Clones Regeneration Partnership, who is tasked with maximising the community response to the re-opening of this section of the waterway that once linked Lough Neagh with Lough Erne.

The re-opening of the Ulster Canal from Upper Lough Erne at Derrykerrib near Wattlebridge to Clones was given the go-ahead by both governments in 2007 and a 2013/2014 completion date is firmly in the mind of the promoter of the project, Waterways Ireland.

This week Waterways Ireland is convening public meetings in Clones and Newtownbutler to assess the views of the communities in both to the project which will bring Clones into the Shannon/Erne Waterway system with undoubted tourism potential for the Border town. Clones has found it hard to shake off the impact of the long years of troubles and the economic decline caused by its immediate proximity to the North.

Waterways Ireland is using the public consultation process to tease out the final route of the canal from Clones to Wattlebridge. It has a preferred route which envisages use of the river Finn for a three-mile stretch from Gortnacarrow to the Erne, which is a change from the original route when the canal connected directly with Upper Lough Erne.

Nigel Russell, director of Technical Services at Waterways Ireland, said the views of the public were being taken on board in the determination of the preferred route of the canal. The canal to Clones will be 13km, crossing the Border several times on its journey.

It will have two locks at the Gortnacarrow end to facilitate the six metre lift from the Upper Erne to the canal proper.

After completion of the public consultation process the project moves to full environmental assessment and then to planning, which has to be completed before the issue of land acquisition can be dealt with. According to Nigel Russell, they should be moving into the land acquisition phase by late summer or early autumn of 2011.

"We are hoping that construction can start in early 2012 with a two and a half year construction phase," he says.

The re-opening of the Clones to Wattlebridge stretch of the Ulster Canal is projected to cost €34m and the Irish Government is committed to meeting the outlay for this section. Part of the development entails the construction of a 40-berth marina in Clones at a man-made harbour stretching east from the Ulster Canal stores on the Cavan road.

Promoting a development drive in Clones in tandem with the re-opening of the canal is Gerry Darby, project co-ordinator with Clones Regeneration Partnership. He is acting as a conduit between Waterways Ireland and the communities in Clones and along the route of the re-opened waterway towards Wattlebridge.

"My job is to try and bring in the business community and get them to link into the canal project itself; to make them aware that this marvellous waterway resource is actually coming into the heart of Clones," he says.

Part of his work involves looking at how waterways regeneration benefited other towns like Belturbet, Ballyconnell and Ballinamore and how those lessons could apply to Clones.

The re-opening of the Ulster Canal to Clones will create a number of directly related businesses such as boat hire, boat maintenance and other related pursuits such as angling, canoeing, cycling, walking and the development of heritage tourism.

When the canal is re-opened people will be able to travel from Clones north to Enniskillen or Belleek or south to Belturbet and through the Shannon/Erne Waterway to places such as Carrick-on-Shannon, Athlone and as far south as Limerick, or join the Barrow and head to Waterford.

By the same token boats from all of the those places can reach Clones and Gerry Darby is confident that by being connected to the Shannon/Erne Waterway system tremendous tourism benefits will flow to Clones. From a northern perspective Clones will be a starting point on the waterway network so people could use it as a base from which to start their journeys.

"Part of the wealth and the development of Clones was linked to trade on the Ulster Canal. On the restored canal it will no longer be commercial trade but tourism and recreation. It will connect Clones to the rest of Ireland and bring investment into the town," he says.

The first public consultation meeting takes place in Newtownbutler this evening, Wednesday, September 1 and in Clones on Friday evening, September 3rd. All interested are asked to attend.