Waterways Ireland targets unauthorised developments including small private marinas

More than 430 unauthorised developments along inland waterways – including some commercial scale marinas – are being targeted by Waterways Ireland, under a new five-year plan to regularise developments alongside rivers and lakes.
Waterways Ireland, which manages navigations on the Shannon, the Grand and Royal Canals, the Erne, the Barrow Navigation, the Lower Bann, and the Shannon-Erne Waterway, says the “minor encroachments” include cuts in river banks, single jetties or small private marinas at the back of people’s homes. Major encroachments include any jetty or marina for more than five boats including a number of commercial-scale marinas.
Waterways Ireland chief executive John McDonagh said a new unit within Waterways Ireland has been set up to research issues such as title to land and planning permission for moorings.
The difficulty for Waterways Ireland is that almost 300 of the 430 unauthorised cuts in banks and marinas have been in place since before 2000 when Waterways Ireland was set up. The time lapse may leave Waterways Ireland and planning authorities unable to now take enforcement proceedings against developers.
However, in July, Waterways Ireland told the Oireachtas Public Accounts it had identified 55 developments against which it was actively proceeding. This week the body told The Irish Times the number has now risen to 73.
Speaking at an Oireachtas Committee meeting in July Mr McDonagh said “minor encroachments number 333 in total. Major encroachments number 101″.
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He said “we have made a lot of progress because we can now identity how many are involved, where they are located and what categories and tiers [minor or major] they fit into. On the back of that, having resourced a team to take this forward, we are in to a position where we can start to work on either the smaller encroachments, where within seven years we have an option to regularise things, or the larger encroachments, where there may be an opportunity for feeing them.”
Mr McDonagh clarified that “feeing” them meant charging for a licence to operate. He said there was inequity in the existing system where some authorised operators on the rivers were paying fees to Waterways Ireland, while unauthorised operators were not.
It is understood that the 73 cases under review include large-scale as well as minor incursions on to lakes and rivers under the control of Waterways Ireland.
Sinn Féin TD Pat Buckley said he was personally aware of unauthorised large scale marinas on loughs Ree and Derg. He said he had personally counted about 60 boats in one marina and “I do not know how much money is being generated by these big, major unauthorised developments that have in excess of 70 berths”. He accused Waterways Ireland of a record of tolerating unauthorised developments while dramatically increasing costs to those living aboard barges along the waterways.
Waterways Ireland Operations controller Eanna Rowe said a total of 76 per cent encroachments were minor, or less than five berths, very often in the form of in-cuts, single jetties or small private marinas at the back of people’s homes.
“Categorisation of major encroachments, that is, encroachments accommodating more than five berths, which include the commercial marina developments, account for 23 per cent of total encroachments,” he said.
“We have inherited this as a legacy item. Many of the encroachments date back more than 50 years. We have set up a new unit within Waterways Ireland in the last year to work on the encroachments. It is going to take us time. Each encroachments requires surveying, legal inputs and consultation with the local authorities and planning authorities,” he said.