A Laois barge rental business has slammed Waterways Ireland for the alleged neglect of maintenance works along the Barrow Navigation waterway, stating that it has cost the company both money and business.

The business has called for Waterways Ireland to be 'held accountable' for the alleged 'years of neglect' of Laois canals.

The Barrow Navigation water route connects Waterford's port to the Grand Canal, linking Dublin to the River Shannon. One stop along this route is Vicarstown, where Laois business Barrowline Cruisers rents barges and provides tours along the waterway.

Pictured: One of Barrowline Cruiser's barges being blackened in a dry dock.

Barrowline Cruisers is Ireland's oldest and largest barge rental service in Ireland, having been established by Orla and Philip Conroy in 2000. 

Ms Conroy spoke to the Leinster Express / Laois Live of the struggles they have faced due to the alleged deterioration of the Barrow Navigation.

"The canals are in really poor condition at the moment, Waterways Ireland are in charge of maintenance and they haven't been doing their job. We are losing business and we don't know if we can continue," Ms Conroy stated.

The business has alleged that Waterways Ireland has failed to maintain water levels along the route; has neglected to cull weeds along the route, causing damages to barges, and that the company has not been proactive in solving these issues supposedly brought to their attention.

Pictured: A Barrowline Cruiser barge along the Barrow Navigation

"Waterways Ireland are supposed to maintain the canals through dredging, weed cutting and maintaining water levels, and after years of neglect it has really hit critical point, it's very serious," she explained.

"Our weed cutters are laid up because they are broken and need to be replaced. In the summer, the weeds grow really fast and need to be kept under control. Water level changes are not due to climate change, the rivers are natural feeders for the canals. It's because the canals aren't maintained," Ms Conroy shared.

"Our heritage barges were built for these canals, they should be in a depth of six to eight feet of water. The water depth stands at three feet and our barges have almost run aground. What was once a 50 minute trip is now taking over two hours due to the weeds catching around our propellers, we have to keep stopping to pull them out," Ms Conroy said.

"Apart from the hassle and inconvenience, it affects the whole engine and the damage can be costly. It's unpleasant for customers, and if we have more people booked for a slot afterwards, if the boat isn't back in time we are forced to refund them."

The business owner shared some unfortunate situations her customers have faced due to the poor condition of the canals.

"A few overseas customers had an awful experience. Some Australians were making their way along the canal, they wanted to travel down to the Shannon. They were stuck for a few days due to low water levels, and they were worried if they could make it back to Vicarstown as they had flights home to catch," she said.

"We urgently emailed Waterways Ireland, it was a disaster. We were prepared for the worst case scenario of having to lift the barge out of the water. Who are Waterways Ireland accountable to?" Ms Conroy asked. 

Above: a barge stuck at lock 17, Naas

"Nav Watch monitors and reports the issues along the canals, where people highlight them and post them. They have put together a whole survey and presented it to Waterways Ireland, who said that it was good to have the information," the businessowner said.

The barge rental business explained that though bookings begin in March and April, summer is their busiest season, where they have only a small window to get most of their business for the year.

"These canals are a huge part of our heritage and history, they are hundreds of years old and they are so under resourced and under utilised. 

"Waterways Ireland came down to meet us so we could tell them what's wrong. They came out and said, "yes, this is wrong," and offered no solutions," Ms Conroy said.

"We are finding solutions ourselves. It's very basic things like weed cutting and keeping the canal feeders clear, and monitoring the canals on a regular basis. It's wearing us down and it's heartbreaking," she said.

The Vicarstown business highlighted another alleged instance where customers were lost due to the 'poor maintenance of the canals'.

"It's lovely to bring people to the Midlands to sail, particularly to Laois as the most landlocked, and we are losing business," she said.

"A man from Switzerland has been navigating the Shannon with us for years, and he saw the poor conditions of the canals on Facebook. We had a great booking with him for ten nights, and he said that due to the state of the Barrow Navigation, they will be going to the UK instead," Ms Conroy alleged.

"It's a hit to Irish tourism. We are a small business with mechanics, cleaners and taxi drivers, and the customers spend money along the route to reach us. 

Pictured: A Barrowline Cruiser barge preparing to travel between gates along the Barrow Navigation

"It's damaging the boating tourism in Ireland, to have the canals like that. It's not good, and we need tourism, it was overall down this year," she said.

"These issues can be sorted, it's dreadful in a time when tourism is down. Waterways Ireland are accountable, we have no control over these issues and we can't do anything about them. Waterways Ireland just have to step up and do their job, maintaining the Barrow Navigation.

"We contacted the CEO, and Operations came down and spoke to us. They have told us that they have employed a hydrologist, hopefully it will get sorted. They're all quite vague, and have said they will come back to us in November to tell us what they are going to do. 

"This is the man in charge, we said if its like this next summer we'll have to rethink how we operate. We have to know the latest by November, we are already taking bookings for next summer," Ms Conroy finished.

In March, Waterways Ireland secured planning permission to carry out dredging and maintenance on the River Barrow over the next five years. 

The dredging work along a three hectare stretch of the Barrow Navigation in the townlands of Clogrenan, Crossneen and Ballyhide was approved subject to 17 conditions.

Waterways Ireland has yet to respond to The Leinster Express / Laois Live's request for comment.

Read Next: Coming soon! Pick up the latest edition of Laois Life magazine