30 million spent on connecting the Royal Canal and the Shannon?

Mardy Bum

ilovebiology wrote: »

And how much money in the current climate are people going to spend "Walking" along the canal or fishing? How many jobs can be created by connecting the canal and the river? Can you honestly say that 5 million or more would not have been more wisely spent on people with mortages, people with businesses, the homeless, etc. There are more important priorities than spending money on something like this imo.
If that project was stopped 2 years ago or so when the recession hit, wouldn't 5 million or more have been alot more relieving to people with mortages, businesses etc? Many people would have been delighted and relieved with some sort of sensible "Help" from the government over the past 2 years than spending money on connecting a canal and a river

So the project should just be left on the shelf until we are over the recession? An injection of investment like this is good for the economy. Fiscal injections are the way countries get out of recessions. This will return money. The benefit at this stage of its completion really outweighs the costs. Its a much wiser investment than handing back the equity holders in Anglo their money which they shouldn't have seen sight or light of. Its one of the few smart moves from the clowns in the Dail.

google faps

Tbf, 29 million of that was spent on removing dead cattle and shopping trolleys (and one of my old go-karts that had a steering malfunction ).

They have done some good work on the canal and dredged the crap out of it while also creating nice walkways along the side of it.Not to forget all the lock gates that were replaced and lock buildings restored.

Money not wasted imo.
Búla bos.

flynnlives

have you actually ever been down to portumna or seen lough derg?

there are loads of boat hiring companies/small cruiseing boats, loads of places to stop like terryglass, killaloe etc, pubs, restaurants, b&b's and local attractions the benefit massively from pleasure boaters.

This will only increase as now people who have boats in dun laoighaire and other eastern seaboard towns will be able to get to the shannon.

Money well spent imo.

Now stop been so narrow minded!!

mikemac

google faps wrote: »

Tbf, 29 million of that was spent on removing dead cattle

I shuddered reading that, removing decomposed cattle from a stinking canal

Ewwwww :P

Sir Gallagher

This is a classic example of when an OP should just admit they're wrong. Found out completely.

Millicent

ilovebiology wrote: »

What I am saying is there is a world wide recession on, and there are no jobs in Ireland, in England or in many parts of Europe or the rest of the world, and people cannot afford to go on holidays at the moment, and if they do go along the connection of the Royal Canal and the Shannon, how can that generate money for the economy? All they will be doing is mostly walking along it, or fishing, or in a boat.
Yes the money on the Luas, and the Port Tunnel was a ridiculous waste of money, but so is this in my opinion.

Okay, this post is pure sensationalism. There are jobs in Ireland and in England and in Europe. There are less of them but there are jobs. Now, in Ireland, we used to rely very heavily on our tourism industry. Then we got a little bit carried away, cost of living rose and coming to Ireland was not as cheap as it once once. Now they are trying to revitalise something that could bring tourism here, not to mention add to the enjoyment of the natives and that's a problem?

Seriously, we should stop giving money to art galleries or theatres because nobody does anything with those except look at pictures or watch people acting things that aren't even really real life.

mikemac

Ulster Canal you say, interesting.
Shannon is connected to Lough Erne and then the Ulster Canal will link to Lough Neagh
Maybe one day

Afaik Waterways Ireland is a cross border body
So they do worth all over Ireland

Victor

Victor wrote: »

One of them is a canal, not a river.

It does seem to bring tourism to the midlands.

Vic,
What'ye say to putting "heritage" in the thread title and moving it to C&T?

google faps

feelingstressed wrote: »

I shuddered reading that, removing decomposed cattle from a stinking canal

Ewwwww :P

The whole of the midlands has had canal fuelled yellow jaundice at some point.

Sir Gallagher

Sir Gallagher wrote: »

This is a classic example of when an OP should just admit they're wrong. Found out completely.

Actually, if this were moved to C&T, this post would never be made. Plenty of rant support there.

Overheal

ilovebiology wrote: »

What I am saying is there is a world wide recession on, and there are no jobs in Ireland, in England or in many parts of Europe or the rest of the world, and people cannot afford to go on holidays at the moment, and if they do go along the connection of the Royal Canal and the Shannon, how can that generate money for the economy? All they will be doing is mostly walking along it, or fishing, or in a boat.
Yes the money on the Luas, and the Port Tunnel was a ridiculous waste of money, but so is this in my opinion.

No jobs? Really? Did Monster.ie just close up shop or something, or is it just that perhaps you're exaggerating?

baldbear

Fair play to all the volunteers that worked for free. I think it will be a great addition for our country. Will there be tours now on canal boats for anyone to book?

Imagine it for Good Friday for a booze cruise!!!
It's money well spent compared to the evoting machines(€51million) that aren't used and golf balls for anglo.

Heres a map of canal route if not already up...

Canals are infrastructure just like the roads and railways, 30m spent on bringing it back into use isn't going to break the bank(they broke themselves).

It was spent over a good number of years anyway so nothing to do with the current financial mess.

FoxT

Regardless of cost, the canal was a sewer & has been resurrected into a real public amenity that we can all enjoy & take pride in. The disgrace is that it took 20-30 years to do it.

Regarding cost - it was cheap.

Regarding disgrace - it was disgraceful that it took so long to get it done.

Amen.

- FoxT

RMD

OP, please learn what you're going to complain about before you actually do. It just looks retarded when you complain about something you don't even know the bare story to.

Dionysus

ilovebiology wrote: »

This country gets worse and worse! 30 million has been spent on connecting the Royal Canal to the Shannon. Wouldn't you think there are better things 30 million could be spent on than connecting 2 f*cking rivers?

I walked the Royal Canal from Ashtown in Dublin to Killucan in Westmeath and back again about 6 weeks ago. It's a superb walk. This extra money will bring it all the way to the Shannon. It will benefit tourism and the numerous communities in Dublin, Kildare, Meath, Westmeath and Longford along the canal.

What is not mentioned in your post is how the entire redevelopment of the Royal Canal has been inspired by the local communities along the way. Since the 1970s they have formed voluntary communities to clean up the canal, with a separate voluntary group taking charge of each section of the canal. This has involved decades of work, all of which has been voluntary. The state has supported this work. This final opening of the canal to Clondra/Cloondra on the Shannon is the end result of state support for all of that voluntary activity to make a region that bit nicer.

Would that more areas in Ireland had as much voluntary activity. Congratulations to all concerned.

Logical Fallacy

Dearest OP,

I hope you have learned that short sighted reactive posting on complicated topics with far reaching benefits is silly.

Also, how anyone can call the Luas a waste is actually beyond me. There is actually a transport system in Ireland that provides a good regular service and runs at a profit and people are giving out about it?

Millicent

Logical Fallacy wrote: »

Dearest OP,

I hope you have learned that short sighted reactive posting on complicated topics with far reaching benefits is silly.

Also, how anyone can call the Luas a waste is actually beyond me. There is actually a transport system in Ireland that provides a good regular service and runs at a profit and people are giving out about it?

If that is in reply to be, I was referring to the advice the Transport Authority got about the Luas, which they ignored, that ended up costing a lot to fix. The Luas itself isn't a waste -- the initial setup was wasteful with the funding.

Logical Fallacy

Millicent wrote: »

If that is in reply to be, I was referring to the advice the Transport Authority got about the Luas, which they ignored, that ended up costing a lot to fix. The Luas itself isn't a waste -- the initial setup was wasteful with the funding.

Nope, was aiming at the OP, didn't see what you said about the Luas (shame on me), cheers for that info though.