Longford lobby group believe waterway byelaws ‘bad for business’

As Waterways Ireland opened the second phase of the public consultation on proposed byelaw changes - inviting members of the public and interested parties to have their say on proposed revisions to the Shannon Navigation and Canal Byelaws - a local activist says they will be “bad for business, bad for tourism and bad for boaters”.

The leader of the Shannon Lakes & River Group, Liam Finnegan believes Waterways Ireland are overstepping the mark with some of the proposals in the byelaws: “We totally object to it,” he told the Leader.
Mr Finnegan objects to the moves by the State body tasked with overseeing Ireland's watercourses: “Waterways Ireland are in the process of drafting new By-Laws for the Canals and River Shannon Navigation. Some of these bye-laws are draconian and will affect people who own a boat with an afloat charge of €200 per annum registration fee among other major changes to many other bye-laws.”

Mr Finnegan was one of a group of concerned boaters who addressed the Dáil Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage at the end of last year.
“Luckily we got them [Waterways Ireland] brought before a Dail committee last year. The committee requested the consultation period be extended, reluctantly they agreed and published revised draft bye-laws on January 15 with a further six weeks consultation period,” Mr Finnegan said.

The Shannon Lakes & River Group member feels that the approach by Waterways Ireland to the new byelaws ignores the concerns of many who use the waterways: “We feel most of these bye-laws can best be summed up as “bad for business, bad for tourism and bad for boaters” and their implementation needs to be paused until major issues with Governance within Waterways Ireland are resolved.”