The Royal Canal

In order to appreciate the position as regards this canal it is necessary to have an idea of the extent of the system and the use to which it is at present being put.

The Royal Canal came under railway control through the Act of 1845 which authorised the construction of the late Midland Great Western Railway Company. A provision under this Act brought about the purchase of the canal by the railway.

The canal debouches into the Liffey at Spencer Dock and runs as far as Cloondara, Co. Longford, with a five mile branch from Killashee to Longford. Its total length is 91 miles. In passing through Dublin it rises steeply through 12 locks in the first six miles. It is the obligation of the railway company to keep this canal system in proper repair, and it is obvious that the system must be treated as a whole. We cannot consider the Dublin portion by itself. At the present time the railway company obtains in receipts about three-eighths of the cost of maintenance. The railway Reports show the following average figures for the past four years: Expenditure, £8,242; Receipts, £2,918.

Any interference with the Dublin end would, however, leave the maintenance of the top 90 miles to be faced, but would eliminate the receipts altogether since the receipts are naturally due to its Dublin connection. We cannot, therefore, imagine that the railway company would agree to any disturbance of the present position where the canal passes through Dublin, unless the whole canal were taken over.

It would furthermore be virtually impossible to fill any part of the Dublin end because the canal collects surface water all along its length of 90 miles and there would be nowhere for this water to go to. Large supplies of water are taken from the canal in and near Dublin, not only by the G.S.R., but by the L.M.S., G.N.R., Corporation, Messrs. Jameson and Messrs. J. Power. A large number of private individuals also, we understand, take water for a variety of purposes, including farming.

The figures show that the use at present made of the Royal Canal is not very great, but, if experience in England is any guide, we may expect a considerable revival in canal traffic, for the English Railways have spent millions on canals within the last few years. In the event of war, petrol may rise to such a price that horse-drawn transport on canals may come back into its own on that account. Neither should we forget that the Royal Canal serves some of the richest turf producing areas in Ireland, and turf is ideally suited to transport by canal.

The position is, therefore, that we have a large scale canal system in perfect order, the key to whose future lies in Dublin. We have no planning proposals which would suggest interfering with it, and we, therefore, recommend that the Royal Canal should continue to function on its present lines.