Inland waterways association opposes plan to narrow Royal Canal

Plans to narrow part of the Royal Canal in Dublin’s north inner city breach the statutory protection of the waterway and ignore the presence of toxic creosote in the river bed, it has been claimed.

Dublin City Council is seeking planning permission to “widen the existing towpath” which is to be “achieved by narrowing the canal channel along three sections of the route”.

The three sections are: west of Lock 6 over a distance of 600m; west of Broombridge over 345m and west of Lock 8 over 85m. In total the distance to be narrowed in more then one kilometre and the width of waterway to be lost is up to 2.5m, according to the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIS) submitted with the plan.

Work began on the Dublin sections of the Royal Canal in 1789 and it opened as a thoroughfare for goods and passengers to the Shannon in 1817. The canal was officially closed to navigation in 1961 and quickly fell into dereliction. In the 1970s the Inland Waterways Association of Ireland (IWAI) and the Royal Canal Amenity Group led a successful campaign to get Government to restore and reopen the canal, which took place in 2010.

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In a submission on the project the IWAI said: “The Royal canal channel was built to particular specifications which in turn prescribed its function, the type of boats it is capable of carrying and the weight of the cargo they are able to transport. It was designed as a dual way navigation capable of allowing two commercial barges to pass each other on the channel. By narrowing the canal the integrity of its structure, its design and its heritage value and its ability to help us interpret this landscape will be lost”.

‘Disregarded’ function

The IWAI submission also claims the plan is in breach of Canals Act, 1986 (Bye-Laws), 1988, 38 (i) which stated: “No person shall cause damage to any part of the canal property”. It notes “the Royal canal channel has its own Dublin City Industrial Heritage Record reference No. (DCIHR ref 18-03-001)” and that any development in this area takes place in a conservation area.

The submission also says Waterways Ireland, the cross-Border body charged with maintaining the inland waterway, has “disregarded their statutory function, namely to undertake the care, management and maintenance of the canals for use by the public for navigation”.

The IWAI also contends the environmental impact assessment (EIS) failed to take into account the presence of the toxic creosote in the canal bed. “ The absence of any reference to the presence of toxic substances, namely Creosote in the development area makes the EIS at best incomplete and at worst false and misleading”. It said high levels of creosote were discovered in the canal in 2011 at Coke Oven Cottages, one of the proposed sites for the development.

Dublin City Council said the aim was “to provide a premium quality cycle and pedestrian route to facilitate and encourage cycling and walking” while maintaining the canal as an ecological corridor and improving vehicular access for residents and maintenance vehicles.

The development is to be undertaken by the council using part 8 of the Planning and Development Act which allows no appeal process to An Bord Pleanála.

Waterways Ireland, which manages the canal, said similar work has taken place at other locations across the canal network. It added that it “supports both navigation and cycle amenity uses of the canal corridor”.