PEOPLE WHO LIVE on houseboats are concerned over what they claim is a severe lack of communication between them and Waterways Ireland about proposed changes to bye laws along the Grand and Royal canals in Leinster.
Waterways Ireland have said the decision to revise the bye-laws was made after the agency felt the existing rules were “no longer fit for purpose” – especially in the context of environmental and health developments – since their establishment in the 1980s.
Two periods of public consultation on the bye laws took place between June 2023 and February 2024 and the cross-state, publicly-funded agency that is contracted to maintain all waterways on the island of Ireland, received almost 1,800 submissions.
Permit fees will be increased in line with the level of services that are in the area surrounding the docks that houseboards are located – in some places, the fees could increase by more than 500%.
Living aboard could become more restrictive, as Waterways Ireland plans to clear sections of both canals for recreational use. The agency has already reviewed some of the fee changes, over affordability concerns.
Members of existing boating communities have told The Journal that they are concerned that they could become isolated from each other once the new bye laws are in place.
One group, the Irish Residential Boat Owners Association (IRBOA), is claiming that Waterways Ireland is not adequately engaging with it about the laws.
“Regulation is needed, but not in the way that they [Waterways Ireland] want to do it,” Secretary of IRBOA Alessandra Cesari-Gleeson told The Journal. “I don’t think they understand – if you live aboard or not – boats.”
Cesari-Gleeson, a ‘liveaboard’ based in Lowtown, Co Kildare, has been living on Irish canals for over 20 years. She said that living in a houseboat with her husband and family helped her to feel re-connected her to her home in Italy
Like most of the other liveaboards The Journal spoke to, she is in favour of having stricter rules around Ireland’s canals and would not mind the fee increases if it resulted in better amenities and improved services.
Waterways Ireland have said it plans to add new jetties and moorings, places where people can dock their canal boats, at various sections along the canal. A spokesperson told The Journal that these plans are subject to planning permission.
Another liveaboard, Laura Merren - who is based on the Grand Canal in Sallins, Co Kildare – claims that she has seen no applications seeking permission for such projects yet.
The Journal previously reported that plans to use Ireland’s canals for residential use – like in London and Manchester in the United Kingdom – could take five to seven years to approve.
Cesari-Gleeson and Merren say they are among the lucky few who have access to services such as fresh-water taps and a marine pump-out system, which allows boat owners to dock and dump their sewage and waste away from the water.
But in Castleknock in Dublin 15 – where houseboats have been situated for decades – liveaboards have not had access to fresh, running water for over five years.
“Any other accommodation would expect to have water and fairly basic services somewhere nearby,” Peter Sheekey, who has been based in Castleknock for five years, told The Journal.
He said the issue is colloquially known as “Water-Tap-gate” among liveaboards in Castleknock. The tap was not on when Sheekey arrived at Castleknock in 2019 and, according to him, an existing water point had not been working for some time.
Sheekey met with the CEO of Waterways Ireland nearly four years ago about the issue and Uisce Éireann earlier this year told residents at Castleknock that it is willing to provide them with a water point, according to him, Merren and Cesari-Gleeson.
A spokesperson for Waterways Ireland said it will provide a water tap at Castleknock in the “near future” and claimed that the services will require additional planning permission, after the last services were offered by a nearby hotel.
It added that Castleknock is also one of the locations where new houseboat moorings, places to dock, will be added in the future – subject to planning permission.
All houseboat owners that The Journal spoke to claimed that a pattern of engagement emerged between themselves and Waterways Ireland once plans for new bye laws were announced in late 2022.
Sallins liveaboard Laura Merren detailed that open communication between staff and boat owners was common when she first joined the canal around six years ago.
However, she claims that she has since become “disheartened” by the level of engagement since the new rules were proposed in late 2022.
Merren attended a public consultation event in Athlone, Co Westmeath where, she claims, the majority of her queries went unanswered or she was redirected to others within the agency.
“I just felt very disheartened at the party line being handed out,” she said.
She claimed that there has been poor communication, specifically about plans to introduce fines for infractions.
According to Merren, there is no clear system to the proposed fine framework and a list of potential infractions has not yet been given to houseboat owners.
Although she said things like dumping sewage into the water would be a clear violation, Merren and other owners are concerned that fines could be handed down for less-egregious things – such as having an unkept or untidy vessel.
“They’re leaving so many grey areas, and it’s within that vacuum that there’s a worry,” she told The Journal, adding that it is her understanding that boat owners will be directed to the District Court if they want to appeal their fines.
A spokesperson for Waterways Ireland told The Journal that it undertook and concluded two periods of public consultation on the bylaws between June 2023 and February 2024.
They said that they received almost 1,800 submissions, and held ten public events and 27 stakeholder meetings with Waterways Ireland staff.
A spokesperson also said that Waterways Ireland met with IRBOA once in Newbridge in Co Kildare, adding that the agency offered the group an opportunity to meet on two more occasions with management in recent months.
However, boat owners have questioned whether such meetings are useful, given the fact the new bye laws have been delivered to the housing minister.
The Journal reported in July that Waterways Ireland began a review of fee hikes at Grand Canal Dock in Dublin city as costs would have risen by up to 700%.
The fees are linked to the Combined Mooring & Passage Permit (CMP) – which is currently at a flat, annual rate of €126. Increases would make so that it is relative to the level of amenities and services in the locale.
Waterways Ireland provided a graphic to The Journal, detailing the increases.
The IRBOA argues that currently too few services are offered by Waterways Ireland for liveaboards to justify fee hikes. The group say that increased costs are, in reality, aimed at forcing residential boat owners to move out of Dublin city centre.
Instead, the group has proposed that fees are increased in line with inflation and that a pay-as-you-go model is introduced for services used by liveaboards. Waterways Ireland has conceded to introduce a reduced rate for those who are over 70.
Merren said those living in Sallins currently operate on a first-come, first-served model for spaces along the banks and at jetties. She said that neighbours have suggested that they’d rather move than pay extortionate fees.
She believes it is wrong to introduce the fees without setting strict deadlines for the provision of better services. Although she said Sallins is well served, she also claims it takes a long time for small issues to be fixed.
Lowtown Liveaboard Cesari-Gleeson also argues that Waterways Ireland has enough funding to be able to deliver services such as marine pump-out systems and fresh water for residential boat owners along different sections of the canal.
She claims the IRBOA has not been listened to.
“It annoys me so much,” she told The Journal. ”They could be doing so much more. We could be in with them at the housing committee, on the same side.”
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