‘The pubs are quiet, the jetties are quiet’: Fee increase blamed for Shannon’s declining boat numbers

The number of pleasure craft on the river Shannon is “in free fall” and will drop further if Waterways Ireland (WI) proceeds with planned new charges and rules, according to a group representing hundreds of boat owners and riverside businesses.

The Shannon Lakes & Rivers Group (SLRG) has claimed that proposed new bylaws for the Shannon Navigation System, including a €200 registration fee, will drive more boat owners off the river, with drastic consequences for many small businesses.

A delegation from WI is due before the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee on Thursday, July 4th, where the planned new bylaws will be discussed.

The Vintners Federation of Ireland has written to WI, saying it was particularly concerned about a planned new permit fee for pleasure craft travelling from north to south along the Shannon-Erne Waterway, which they say amounts to a “tourist tax” and would create “a financial border” between the Republic and Northern Ireland.

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John Dunne, a member of the SLRG from Carrick on Shannon, said the number of cruisers had “fallen off a cliff”, with businesses in towns and villages along the Shannon suffering as a result.

He said traffic on the river was measured by lock passages and bridge lifts, and figures show a 50 per cent reduction in the 20 years to 2023 from more than 76,000 lock passages in 2003 to 35,667 last year.

The SLRG says there was a 21 per cent drop from 2018 to 2023, when lock passages went from 45,298 to 35,667 while another sharp drop is expected this year.

Sligo-born Joe Young has had a boat on the river for 30 years, but said he had bought a camper van and intended to get rid of his 37-foot cruiser.

“I love the river but I am going to pack it in,” he said. He pays €1,000 a year to keep his boat in a private marina, but said anytime he dropped into Carrick on Shannon for a meal he was liable to be checked to see if he was breaking a rule which limited the number of days per month a boat could use a public mooring.

“I don’t want to overstep the mark and five days is fair enough, but if we go into Carrick for a few hours to do a bit of shopping, is that a day? They are treating us all like [harbour] hoggers.

“The fun has gone out of the river,” said Mr Young. He was recently on a three-week voyage to Lough Derg and estimated that he encountered fewer than 20 private boats. “The pubs are quiet, the jetties are quiet. It is very strange. I don’t know why.”

Tom Gannon, a member of Leitrim Tourism Network and owner of a cruiser, said WI should be investigating the reasons for the slump in boat numbers rather than introducing new bylaws which would exacerbate it. “I personally know three people who are selling their boats and buying camper vans,” he said.

While everyone was willing to pay “a fair and equitable fee”, Mr Gannon said the planned increase in the winter mooring fee from €62.50 to €300 was “excessive” given that water and electricity were now switched off during the winter months.

John Pierce, who has run the Barge pub and restaurant in Leitrim village for 30 years, said a drop in traffic on the river was affecting all businesses in the village. “I had 10 Germans here last night, the only crowd I had in. In years gone by, you could not get in the door,” said the chairman of the Leitrim branch of the VFI.

Rita Ryan, who runs the Whiskey Still pub and restaurant in Dromineer, Co Tipperary, with her husband, Joe, believes the 2008 economic crash, the weather and antisocial behaviour on some marinas have been factors in the reduction in boat numbers. “A lot of cruisers got sold when the crash came in 2008,” she said.

“Without question the lake traffic is down for the month of June compared with last June,” said the businesswoman. On the proposed new WI bylaws, she said: “Anything that would reduce our business for what is a very short summer season is not good.”

In a statement, WI said that, after extensive public consultation, it was proposing to update the Shannon bylaws and the canal bylaws which were more than 30 years old and no longer fit for purpose, given changes in environmental and health and safety considerations, and the transformation of the waterways themselves.

The north-south body said it was proposed to increase the annual registration fee from €127, set in 1988, to €200. The SLRG said the €127 fee applied only to canals and not to the Shannon where no registration fee currently applied.

WI said it was proposing to increase the five-month winter mooring fee from the €62.50 rate set in 1988 to €300 “which represents significant value versus alternatives”.

It said a uniform charge of €40 for three months’ cruising was proposed for all visiting craft entering “from any place of origin”, which it believed would not deter visitors.

A spokeswoman said the number of boats registered with WI had more than tripled since 2003, with day cruisers, jet-skis and powered craft for waterskiing much more prevalent now. Because such activities were localised, they were less likely to be captured in lock passage numbers.

The SLRG estimates there are now only about 6,000 cruisers on the Shannon, and it said thousands of boats which had been sold or scrapped had not been deregistered.

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