The Ulster Waterways Group has launched a campaign to reopen the Ulster Canal and create what it describes as "a great leisure waterway between Belfast and Limerick". The Ulster Canal, constructed in the mid-1800s, linked Lough Neagh - the largest lake in these islands - to Lough Erne in Co Fermanagh. It is now derelict but at yesterday's conference of the Ulster Waterways Group in Co Tyrone, the group said the reopening would link Lough Neagh and Lough Erne with the Shannon system, through the Shannon-Erne link.
The reopening of the Ulster Canal has already been the subject of a study carried out jointly for the Department of the Environment in Northern Ireland and Duchas, the Heritage Service.
The cross-Border route travels through counties Armagh, Monaghan and Fermanagh before entering the Upper Erne near the town of Belturbet, on the Fermanagh/ Cavan Border.
Speaking at the conference, Mr Erskine Holmes said that in the absence of an all-Ireland waterway authority, advocates of the restoration of the canal would "need every boat club campaigning, every council behind us, and the support of the Inland Waterways Association". He said the original vision of a great highway linking Belfast and Limerick might not come about, but a leisure amenity linking the two cities could be achievable within ten years.
"In this vision Lough Neagh has a special role because it not only gives focus to the campaign to open the Ulster Canal but also the Lagan, the Newry, the Upper and Lower Bann and the Coalisland Canals."