Official Report: Minutes of Evidence

The Chairperson (Miss McIlveen): John, you are very welcome to the Committee, along with Joe. Please make your presentation, and then members will follow up with some questions.

Mr John McDonagh (Waterways Ireland): Thank you very much. Good morning, Chair and members.

My name is John McDonagh. I am the chief executive of Waterways Ireland. I am joined today by two colleagues: Joe Gillespie, who is our Northern regional manager, and Joe McMahon, who is our technical services director. We propose to take you through the presentation content on a page-by-page basis. That is on the basis that you have it, and you can refer to the page numbers at the bottom.

I will start with the first section, to give you a little bit of background about who we are and what we do. Then we are going to move into a section in the middle that has lots of pictures, which we will move through pretty quickly, and what we hope to do there is to give you a sense of perspective around the projects, delivery and maintenance etc across our navigations since 2016. The reason for that is that we understand that you have not had a presentation since 2016, so we are obviously going to try to move through five years pretty quickly. Towards the end, we have a couple of slides about the now and the future, which I am happy to take you through. That is how we hope to proceed, so if you are comfortable with that — I am going to assume that you are — I am going to take you first through page 3, which is called 'About Waterways Ireland'.

I will spend a moment on this. We are the largest of the six implementation bodies established under the British-Irish Agreement in 1998, and we are a cross-border navigation authority. We are responsible for over 1,000 kilometres of navigable waters, and the remit that we have is for the management, maintenance, development and promotion of those 1,000 kilometres, principally for recreation purposes. I direct you to the map on the right-hand side of the slide, which shows you where the waterways are within our remit. Starting at the top, number 1 is the Lower Bann; number 2 is the Erne system; number 3 is the Shannon Erne system, stretching the whole way down to number 4, which is the Shannon; number 5 is the Royal canal; number 6 is the Grand canal; and number 7 is the Barrow navigation. I am pausing just to give you time to understand that that is the remit for the locations of the waterways.

We employ 300 permanent staff across different offices and sites that are close to the navigations themselves, and we complement and increment those numbers with seasonally recruited staff, which reflects the kind of seasonality of the job that we have. Our headquarters are here in Enniskillen, where I am today. We have regional offices in Carrick-on-Shannon, Dublin and Scarriff. Last year, approximately three and a half million people used our waterways in some capacity, either on-water or off-water. Annually, we create social, economic and environmental well-being value of €560 million. The current valuation of the rebuild costs of our infrastructure assets is estimated at €1 billion. If you have time and you are inclined, you can find out more about us by clicking on our website.

I am going to take you from slide 3 to slide 4 and cover our governance structure. Ultimately, the authority that we report to is the North/South Ministerial Council (NSMC), which is assisted by the secretariat in Armagh. We have two sponsor Departments: the Department for Infrastructure in Northern Ireland, with Minister Nichola Mallon, and, in Ireland, the Department for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, with Minister O'Brien and Minister Noonan.

In the Waterways Ireland structure, we have a chief executive, me; an accounting officer, again, me; and an audit committee with an independent chair, who is called Kieran Kelly. That is our governance structure.

On slide 5, we have tangible and intangible assets. I am not going to spend too much time on this one. The left-hand side shows that the physical assets that we talked about earlier are valued at about €1 billion. They run across about 20 principal assets, which are pure infrastructure assets: everything from bridges to culverts to lock gates. We have financial assets, which are assets funded by the Government, Executive or third parties, and then the income that we generate ourselves.

As I said earlier, we have 300 permanent staff, and they are dispersed across two different jurisdictions. We have different currencies, services, policies and terms and conditions, so there is a certain amount of complexity. We have an intangible asset in the brand, the corporate reputation and the know-how, or what I call the "expertise core competency".

Slide 6 gives a sense of the operating framework. We have a requirement to engage with multiple key stakeholders. At the top, we have the North/South Ministerial Council, and, coming down, we have the sponsor Departments, Finance Departments, trade unions from an industrial relations perspective and then, obviously, our own people. That gives a sense of the environment.

I will spend a moment on page 7, because it is a little bit busy. It tries to give a sense of some history and what we are doing. On the left-hand side, we show our maintenance and capital spend from 2010-2020. We have rebased 2010 to 100 to show the trend across the 10 years. On the left-hand side, both lines significantly decline from 2010, particularly around 2014-15, when our capital funding was very significantly reduced. Both of the lines then came back from 2016, 2017 and 2018 onwards to around 70% of the 2010 number. In latter times, in 2019-2020 and actually continuing into 2021, there has been some small incremental growth in funding. That puts it in perspective for maintenance and capital.

On the right-hand side, the slide is looking at this through a different set of eyes. This is an international benchmark comparator with the organisations mentioned there. It looks at our total expenditure, measured per kilometre of navigations, to actually have a common benchmark. The range of expenditure runs from €31,000 per kilometre in our case up to €151,000 per kilometre for Scottish Canals. The average is €113,000 per kilometre, so we are significantly off the benchmark number.

On slide 8, the format is somewhat similar again, looking at resources or numbers of people here. On the left-hand side, the slide indicates a red line along the top, which is called a remit target. We were remitted from way back at the start, 20 years ago, to have 381 permanent resources. We have never had 381, certainly not since 2010. The numbers are along the bars there. They dipped down to 277 in 2017. In the last couple of years in particular, we have been beginning to rebuild capacity in the organisation.

Again, the right-hand side looks at this from the perspective of what I call "international benchmarks". It compares the number of employees across the length of the navigations within the responsibility of each navigation authority. We have 0·3 of an employee per kilometre. The average across them all is 0·5, and it actually reaches out to 1·1 in Scottish Canals. Again, from a resource perspective, in terms of the number of employees, there are very significant gaps.

Slide 9 gives some insight into the money, as I call it.

Again, at the bottom, we are looking at 2016 through to 2021. The very last number at the bottom shows the current total. You can see that, in 2016, the funding was €23·246 million. That has been growing in latter years, and our funding now is at €27·758 million. The top half of the slide, on the right-hand side, shows current funding, which is based on the proportion and allocation, or apportionment, of waterways in each jurisdiction. In simple language, 85% of the waterways are in Ireland and 15% are in Northern Ireland. The current funding is provided from the Departments based on that apportionment, so we get 15% of our current funding from Northern Ireland and 85% from Ireland.

The left-hand side of the slide, at the top, shows capital funding, which is different. Capital funding is allocated on the basis of where the project actually happens, so, as you can see, over the years, it moves around a little bit depending on the capital programme in either jurisdiction.

Regarding slide 10, I did not want to make the presentation and not make a reference to COVID. Simply put, we have had a COVID project team in place from the start; in other words, for over approximately 15 months now. The project team meets regularly and makes decisions in relation to COVID for all our staff. We moved our office-based staff to homeworking around 23 March 2020, so over a year ago at this stage. That was pretty seamless. We had the technology, it worked well and people continue to work from home. Our operational staff have been working on and off, based on public health guidelines, but, throughout the time, we have had people working on essential services and essential maintenance across the waterways.

This slide gives a sense of the look and feel of our response plan, which is a living document that we use within the organisation. We have shared it with our sponsor Departments and also with the North/South Ministerial Council for other bodies. It is a living document that we update based on changes to compliance etc. That is where we are with COVID.

I am now going to pause, because we are going to do a quick overview of key projects on the Lower Bann and Lough Erne. I am going to hand over in the first instance to my colleague Joe McMahon, who will take you through slide 12.

Mr Joe McMahon (Waterways Ireland): The first couple of slides provide a brief overview of capital infrastructure projects on the Erne navigation over the last number of years, including the Ulster canal restoration project. What you see on the left-hand side of slide 12 are a couple of photographs depicting the River Finn dredging, which was completed in May 2016. This was phase 1 of the Ulster canal restoration between Lough Erne and Clones. It involved intermittent dredging of the River Finn between Quivvy Lough in County Fermanagh on the Erne and Castle Saunderson in County Cavan. Approximately 3,500 cubic metres of material was removed from the river to a licensed tip in order to create navigation depth along a 2·5 kilometre stretch of the river.

On the right-hand side of the slide and the next couple of slides, the photographs represent a continuing programme on the Erne navigation of increasing mooring capacity, as well as a replacement programme for fixed mooring sites with floating moorings. The top right-hand side shows the installation of approximately 36 metres of floating jetty at Galloon on the Erne, and the bottom right-hand side shows the installation of 54 metres of new floating jetty at Knockninny, also on the Erne.

On slide 13, the focus remains on capital projects on the Erne for the periods of 2016 and 2017. The top left shows the construction and installation associated with the provision of 83 metres of new floating jetty at Derryvore. The bottom left shows the construction, installation and associated works for the provision of 126 metres of floating jetty at Carrybridge.

The top right shows the construction and installation of 113 metres of new floating jetty at Killyhevlin, and then the bottom right is the construction and installation of 48 metres of new floating jetty at Henry Street, close to our HQ building.

Moving on to slide 14, and as I mentioned at the outset, I am going to speak a little bit about the Ulster canal restoration. This was part of phase 1. We completed the dredging of the River Finn in 2016. Following on from this in 2017, we commenced work on the construction of a new navigation arch at Derrykerrib bridge on the River Finn. As you can see from the photographs presented on the slide, you have a "before" and "after" of the work. The work itself involved the construction of a new short section of lateral canal, a new navigation arch and associated road realignments at Derrykerrib bridge. This work was completed in 2018.

It is not shown on the slide, but the final piece of the jigsaw of phase 1 of the Ulster canal restoration was the installation of a new 50 metre floating marina at Castle Saunderson, which was completed in 2019. The first phase of the Ulster canal restoration itself created 2·5 kilometres of new navigation.

I now hand you over to my colleague Joe Gillespie, who will take you through slide 15.

Mr Joe Gillespie (Waterways Ireland): Good morning. I turn to the top left-hand side of slide 15. In 2018, we saw a new offering on the Erne: the development of the blueway product in a number of locations across the network. It challenges people who have never been on the water to have a go, in the sense of getting out and being active. The Enniskillen Water Activity Zone has been developed by Waterways Ireland. It is a floating facility, and it accommodates two activity providers, offering dayboat and kayak hire, water taxi and also stand-up paddling, so there is plenty to entice people out on the water, especially young people. In 2019, some 6,000 people — some of them absolute beginners, obviously — ventured out onto the water in one way or another, and that is adults and children. Some 40 schools participated in a paddling skills programme as well.

On the top right-hand side, we have a new jetty at a new destination. Now directly accessible from the water, the landmark location of the castle and the museums in Enniskillen will attract visitors on the waterway to stop off and spend some more quality time ashore, learning about the historic castle, going to the museum or simply just taking time out to have a coffee break there. The jetty also enables coach parties that arrive at the castle to have a waterway experience, as they can travel by water bus out to Devenish, which is a short distance out to the west of the town. It also gives access to the town boulevard that encircles the island of Enniskillen. The land there is in public ownership — it is in Fermanagh and Omagh District Council ownership — and that factor has enabled the investment to happen.

On the bottom left and bottom right of slide 15 are popular locations upstream of Bellanaleck. They are in the interlock channel between the upper and lower lake, and they offer waterway users the chance to enjoy the tranquil, rural experience as opposed to the town experience. The floating facility means that it is possible to use the jetties at almost any time of the year, regardless of the varying level of the lake. Many of our jetties are also used by anglers, generally outside of the main boating season.

The bottom left-hand image on slide 16 shows the creation of a new destination in Upper Lough Erne at Kilmore Quay. We will have a new floating jetty installed at this site, which is already served by a council car park, as you can see. We have had to deepen the approach channel to the jetty location, which will be offshore. This jetty will effectively be the stop-off point for the town of Lisnaskea and the Watermill Restaurant, which is nearby.

Then, on the top right-hand side, a new jetty with a new slipway is being provided at Bellanaleck, which is the first village upstream of Enniskillen. This replaces a time-expired timber fixed jetty. Craft numbers are growing on the Erne, and this is a growing village, popular with boaters. There are onshore facilities, children's play facilities and looped walking trails, so there is plenty to do ashore. There are also two large marina businesses and a cruiser hire base. We anticipate that this facility will increase the numbers of visitors stopping and staying over at Bellanaleck. Access to the water is vital, obviously, and the new slipway will ensure that a broad range of craft can be put into and taken out of the water safely.

On the bottom right-hand side, there is an image of the route around the Belleek marina. It is a project that will see the historic Castle Caldwell, which is in public ownership, linked to a Waterways Ireland marina site in Belleek. Then we cross into the nearby County Donegal, and we go along the northern side of the Assaroe lake, which is impounded by the hydro dam at Cathaleen's Fall in Ballyshannon.

This would then be a cross-border greenway, linking the Wild Atlantic Way to these Erne sites and using disused railway infrastructure in Fermanagh and a minor road in Donegal. A feasibility study has been completed, and we look forward to working with Fermanagh and Omagh District Council and Donegal County Council to advance that project.

Slide 17 has a well-known image on the bottom left. I start with the top right. It is a popular destination with locals and visitors alike on Lower Lough Erne: Castle Archdale. It is in public ownership, and there is a private marina business there, which we can see in this image. There is a small part of the jetty under our control, and we want to provide an upgraded jetty there so that we have somewhere for visitors to land without charge. We also have a pump-out facility there.

At the bottom left and bottom right are jetties on Lower Lough Erne, and they will be extended to offer greater capacity for visitors to experience the heritage sites on the islands. Waterways Ireland, Tourism NI, the council and the historic environment division (HED) of the Department for Communities have collaborated in a Devenish Island development partnership that has produced a visitor management framework embracing the proposition of Tourism NI, which is Embrace a Giant Spirit.

Slide 18 is the Lower Bann. On the top left and bottom left is a location midway along the Lower Bann, near Kilrea, where we have a double-chamber lock with its traditional timber lock gates. The upper photograph shows a freshly installed gate awaiting the fitting of a timber balance beam, which enables the lock-keeper to push the gate in the traditional manner. The gates for this waterway are fabricated with artisan skills in our Portna workshop. The built heritage of the locks has been recognised by the historic environment division as being of special significance in the Northern Ireland context. They are now scheduled waterway infrastructure, requiring HED approval and heritage skills to be employed when we maintain them.

On the right-hand side is rather a dark image; you might understand why. We have an unusual asset at Portna. It is a dry dock that is in line with the channel, not offline. If there were a vessel in the dry dock, the navigation would be closed. We understand that this concrete structure was constructed during the Second World War by the United States Air Force. The navigation depth through the dock, which is just on the upper side of the lock, was being reduced, so we had to intervene and reinstate the navigation depth by removing the deposited material to a licensed disposal site. The scale of the dry dock is apparent when you see the foreman standing on the cleaned-out floor in the bottom picture.

Slide 19 again relates to the Lower Bann. When Waterways Ireland took control, one of the first things that it did was to provide landing jetties above and below the locks to facilitate craft awaiting passage through the locks. These also assist canoeists in portaging around the locks. The jetty at The Cutts, upstream of Coleraine, had to be taken off the water for attention, using a long-reach crane, as you see there, because of its hard-to-reach location adjacent to the DFI Rivers sluice barrage at The Cutts.

The bottom-left scene is a new blueway trail at Portglenone, which also has angling stands, created through a partnership with the local council. Other waterside trails are planned along the Bann where lands are available and funding can be accessed.

At this point, I hand over to Joe McMahon for the image on the right-hand side.

Mr McMahon: There are two photographs on the right-hand side of slide 19, which are of Carnroe weir on the Lower Bann. This project commenced a number of years ago and is essentially about the repair of the weir, which has been assessed as being in critical structural condition. It has been an extremely complex project, given the environmental sensitivities and the legislative need to construct a new all-species fish pass as part of the project. Waterways Ireland has worked closely over the past number of years with DFI Rivers, DAERA inland fisheries, the historic environment division and a number of landowners and interested stakeholders in order to develop this project. This ultimately culminated in planning approval in late 2020 and, consequently, the award of an enabling works contract, which should be completed later this month.

We are progressing works on the tender stage for the in-river works, which will commence in the spring of 2022. Given the size of the weir and the nature of the works, these will be conducted over a two-year period, with completion expected in the autumn of 2023. As you can see at the top of the slide, over the weir on the left-hand side is the lock chamber. Separately to the weir project, we are conducting emergency structural repairs to the lock chamber of the weir. These works are ongoing and will be completed later this month.

I will hand you back to Joe Gillespie regarding slide 20.

Mr Gillespie: With slide 20, we are talking about the maintenance of the navigation. The maintenance of a navigation involves attending to various assets that, together, contribute to a safe waterway. Aids to navigation, including navigation markers with their distinctive red-and-white heads, are often to be seen by boaters out on the lake. These can be damaged by boat strikes, by ice flow or by floods, and we have specialised floating plant, some of which you might be able to see in the central images, such as the work boat on the Erne, which enables us to get out onto the water safely and to maintain the markers or to place concrete sinkers, such as you see on the left-hand side being fabricated, for point moorings, or tranquillity sites, as they are becoming known. Regular maintenance of jetties is critical for the life of the asset and the safety of waterway users.

Slide 21 shows some scenes of aquatic weeds. These scenes are from the Erne system where, since 2004, we have devised a weed management programme to address the threat posed by native and, later, by invasive aquatic plants. Possibly through the presence of the invasive zebra mussel, Nuttall's waterweed became the dominant aquatic plant, threatening to choke the navigation channels and to sever links with the rest of the network. Having the appropriate equipment to remove the weeds from the navigation is essential. On the right-hand side of the slide, we see our weed harvester, which is a specialist piece of kit. Its size allows it to operate in a lake environment, as opposed to canals or sheltered waters. The upper lake is designated as a special area of conservation, so, ahead of any harvesting work, there is much time to be spent in preparing plans, method statements and so on. Our colleagues in our environmental section have specialist knowledge, and their support proves invaluable in helping us to progress through all the issues required to be addressed before we work in a designated aquatic environment.

Mr McDonagh: I will take everybody forward, quickly if I can, through slide 22, which basically highlights potential development opportunities for the future.

There are quite a number of images on slide 23. I am not proposing to cover every single picture, but I can highlight a small number. Regarding the top left-hand side of the slide, we recently launched a Shannon tourism master plan. We did that with our partner, Fáilte Ireland, and 10 local authorities along the Shannon. The total investment over 10 years is approximately €76 million. Most of that money will come from Fáilte Ireland and the local authorities. The relevant thing to point out about the master plan is that it is an exemplar for what we want to have for each of the rest of the navigations.

Next to that, we have the Barrow blueway. This project is under way. We are building 46 kilometres of blueway, and we hope that the balance of the blueway will be extended into Carlow in future years, with approximately another 70 kilometres.

I move now to the Royal canal greenway, which was launched during March. It is the longest greenway in Ireland, at over 140 kilometres. It runs from Maynooth down to Cloondara. It had a very successful launch and was in development for almost 10 years, with funding from various Departments approximating €12 million.

Joe is going to refer to the Ulster canal in a moment, so I will not go there. The next images relate to transformation projects that we hope to develop in and around the Dublin canals. Equally, the next slide is going to refer to the spiritual trail, so I will hold on that.

The last photograph is of Tullamore. Given our land bank there and the location, we have an opportunity to help to regenerate that town and improve the harbour. I will hand over to Joe for slide 24.

Mr Gillespie: For centuries, the waterways on the island of Ireland were the chief means of transporting people efficiently. For that reason, many heritage settlements and sites are to be found along the waterways network. The Lough Erne spiritual trail concept has been developed whereby visitors might experience what it felt like to voyage along the waterways and access 11 identified sites of spiritual or ecclesiastical significance. Together, those could become a visitor product. Waterways Ireland is actively working with the Lough Erne landscape partnership and will support Fermanagh and Omagh District Council in the development of this product in Fermanagh through investment in additional capacity at the Devenish and Davy's Island jetties. We will expand capacity there. Funding is through the Lough Erne landscape partnership and provided by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. In addition to that, we have the longer pilgrim way, which has been the subject of a feasibility study. That is shown on the map in the blue line. It will stretch for over 450 kilometres from the Shannon estuary in the south-west to Lough Derg in Donegal, as the map indicates. The red dots along that route are the heritage sites of significance, and you can see that there are quite a number of them along that route. I will pass over to Joe McMahon.

Mr McMahon: I spoke earlier about the phase 1 elements of the Ulster canal restoration. I will now provide a bit of context and mention other developments on the Ulster canal such as the continued restoration of the canal to Clones, greenway developments beyond Clones and some cross-border projects. The greenway section of the slide highlights the Ulster canal restoration project. In 2007, Waterways Ireland was given permission by the North/South Ministerial Council to explore the potential restoration of the Ulster canal between Lough Erne and Clones. Feasibility assessments were completed and planning applications submitted to four separate authorities in 2011. Planning permissions were granted by all authorities in mid-2013. As I explained, the phase 1 element is complete to Castle Saunderson, creating 2·5 kilometres of new navigation between Lough Erne and Castle Saunderson. Work has commenced on the implementation of delivering phase 2, which is approximately 1 kilometre of restored canal navigation between Clones and Clonfad. Funding of £6 million for that phase has been confirmed from the Shared Island Fund, and we are awaiting a decision on a rural regeneration development fund application in the next few weeks for the balance of the infrastructure costs for this phase. It is planned to complete the delivery of the phase 2 element and the various parts of that phase by mid to late 2023. For the remaining section between Castle Saunderson and Clonfad, £1 million has also been secured from the Shared Island Fund to complete various studies to assist the future delivery of this phase.

The section depicted in red on slide 25 is the remaining section of the old Ulster canal between Clones and Lough Neagh. At a meeting of the North/South Ministerial Council in 2015, it was agreed that Waterways Ireland would lead on progressing the development of a greenway along a corridor of the Ulster canal in association with relevant councils and stakeholders. That has resulted in the establishment of a regional greenway advisory group with local authorities in both jurisdictions. East Border Region and Waterways Ireland have led the group on delivering an Ulster canal greenway development strategy, which lays out a 190 kilometre network of off-road greenways across the centre border mid-Ulster area and anchored to the Ulster canal route. It also builds on work by Monaghan County Council in accessing Department of Transport funds to deliver a phase 1 Ulster canal greenway in 2013 that runs for 4·2 kilometres through Monaghan town.

As part of our direct involvement in greenway developments, Waterways Ireland continues to collaborate with its project partners, Monaghan County Council, Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council and East Border Region to develop phase 2 of the Ulster canal greenway from Smithborough in County Monaghan to Middletown in County Armagh, which is funded through the INTERREG Va sustainable transport measure. A formal request for additional funding to develop the greenway was submitted to the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB) in April 2020. An integrated consultant team has been appointed to progress the route selection and design. The preferred route for the greenway was made public in July 2020, following a thorough route selection process, and planning applications have been submitted for the section in County Armagh and the section from the border to Monaghan. The design and planning permission phase for the section from Monaghan to Smithborough will be progressed in the not-too-distant future.

Mr McDonagh: OK. Thank you both. We have reached the end of our presentation. I am happy to hand back to you, Chair, and to members to ask questions, which we will do our best to answer.

The Chairperson (Miss McIlveen): Thank you all very much for your very comprehensive presentation, particularly for the tour of the various sites and projects with which you have been involved. It is quite unfortunate that this is the first opportunity that we have had since the Assembly was restored to have a conversation with you about your ongoing work. It is a great disappointment that we have not had the opportunity to visit you and see some of those projects in person, but we hope that that will happen in the not-too-distant future when the restrictions have been relaxed. Perhaps we will get that opportunity fairly soon.

I congratulate you, John, on your recent appointment. I know that you had been in post in an interim capacity, but it is good that that has been concluded so that you can look to the future and to the work with which you can be involved.

You indicated that we might want to look at the website. I had a look at it yesterday, and I am interested to know where you are with updating it and populating it with information. I see that the latest annual report is for 2018, and the most recent corporate plan, which is in draft, was for 2017-19. We had a discussion with the Minister for Infrastructure on the back of a North/South Ministerial Council sectoral meeting in December, and she indicated that Waterways Ireland's 2022 corporate plan and its 2020-21 business plan had been prepared. Once they were approved, they were to go to the North/South Ministerial Council. Can you update us on where those documents sit in the organisation?

Mr McDonagh: OK. First, you are always welcome to come and visit us when COVID enables people to do that.

The business plan for 2020-21 was approved by the Departments and the North/South Ministerial Council, so it has been through all the approval stages. The corporate plan has been approved by the Departments and the Finance Departments and will be put forward for approval at the North/South Ministerial Council meeting, which, I believe, is on 14 May. That is where those plans are currently.

The Chairperson (Miss McIlveen): OK. Will your website be updated to reflect all that?

Mr McDonagh: Yes, it will.

The Chairperson (Miss McIlveen): OK. Thank you. We have heard from the Minister about the challenges facing the Department, particularly around resource and the impact that that may have on capital spend. What conversations have you had with the Department about the budget and its implications for you?

Mr McDonagh: We have a normal planning process for the business plan. We also have what I call our regular monitoring meetings. In both those contexts, we have discussions with our sponsor Departments about funding requirements. In relation to funding currently, as you can see from the material that we have presented to you, we have been growing our current and our capital expenditure over the last number of years. We would like to have more; that is pretty obvious from the material that I sent you. We also have other routes to funding, particularly on the capital side — that may not have been apparent from the slide that I showed earlier — through a channel that is called third-party funding. If you look back over the past number of years and include third-party funding, you will see that that is a significant opportunity for us. For example, referring back to the Shannon tourism master plan, there will, over 10 years, be €76 million of investment. Much of that investment will come from bodies and organisations outside Waterways Ireland, but it will benefit us. Of the €7 million for the Barrow blueway project, 25% match funding has come from the Department in Dublin, and the rest has come from various schemes. Obviously, we want to develop the opportunities that I showed you in the slides. We can do that only if the funding exists. We continue to have discussions with our sponsor Departments about funding needs.

I am conscious of the fact that this is a brief evidence session. We have tried to show you the perspective from 2016. Looking to the future, we are coming to the end of the culmination of a 10-year strategic plan, which we will discuss with our Departments in May. That strategic plan will have a number of strategic priorities, one of which is around funding, the funding model and the opportunities for us to avail ourselves of alternative funding. Those conversations will go on as well. It is a continuous conversation that we have with our Departments and third parties.

The Chairperson (Miss McIlveen): What is the impact on your planning when we have only single-year Budgets rather than multi-year ones?

Mr McDonagh: Again, I will break it down into current and capital. The current budget, as I said, is based on the allocation of the waterways. Of the current expenditure, 15% will and has come from Northern Ireland every year. That impacts predominantly on non-capital items such as salaries, rent, light, heat, maintenance and the kind of expenses of which you will be aware. If it is a capital fund and there is not capital, we will not be able to fund opportunities in that jurisdiction.

The Chairperson (Miss McIlveen): It is as simple as that.

There have been many negatives associated with COVID, but one positive is that people are getting out and about and enjoying the environment, which will have an impact on the services that you provide. Are you able to quantify the increase of users of waterways facilities? How have you been able to manage that over the past year?

Mr McDonagh: That is a good question; thank you for asking it. Last year, we had unprecedented demand on certain navigations, on-water and off-water. We have markers that monitor the number of users of trails. Generally speaking, across approximately 15 or 20 markers, we saw increases of at least 20%, on average. In some locations, demand went up by 100%. On-water, and in specific locations such as the Shannon, we probably had a record level of demand in 2020, particularly from the cruise hire sector. That really came down to the fact that, as a result of COVID, most people were looking for staycations. There was a huge increase in domestic demand that, in other years, probably would have gone elsewhere. We managed it reasonably well. We worked with local authorities in particular to service provision around service blocks and all our facilities, such as toilets and car parks. It was a bit stop-start depending on public health guidelines. For example, difficulties might arise when people are in a restricted space and there are congregations of people. On occasion, we had to take some actions and close a car park at a particular location because the level of demand was so high and people were congregating when they should not have been. There were a small number of instances of that. However, in general, last year was a high demand year off-water and on-water, and I think that it was managed reasonably well.

Ms Kimmins: Thank you for your presentation. It was definitely very informative. I have a couple of questions. I would like to get a further understanding of where Waterways Ireland's remit starts and ends and who decides that and whether you can get involved in other projects. An example in my area is the Albert Basin park project, which is a highly anticipated project for Newry. Given its location along the canal in Newry, it seeks to reconnect Newry with its waterways and has huge potential. I want to get more of an understanding of where you will come in on that one.

Mr McDonagh: I will answer the second part of your question first, if that is OK, and then I might defer to the two guys to make sure that I get the second piece right. It is not in our gift to decide to take on additional elements to our remit. Joe McMahon gave some examples earlier around the Ulster canal restoration project and the Ulster canal greenway, and he said that the canal restoration was added to our remit in 2007 by the North/South Ministerial Council. He also referred to what I would call the extension piece in 2015 where the Council asked us to lead greenway corridors along the Ulster canal. Again, that came from the North/South Ministerial Council. Ultimately, that authority comes from the Council, and it is not in our gift to decide that we want to do a, b, and c and that we are going to do it.

We get a number of questions from all kinds of people on your point, and part of it goes back to what I would call saliency around our brand — Waterways Ireland — as in people's awareness of the brand, the remit and of what exactly is in it. We will address that issue, because we do not believe that that brand awareness is high enough, and, therefore, people are not educated or informed enough about what is in the remit. We will take that on board separately.

You asked a question about your area and particular location. I do not believe that that sits within our remit, but I will defer and make sure that I am correct in saying that by asking either of the Joes to confirm that for me.

Mr Gillespie: I will take that. You are talking about the Newry canal and where it discharged into Carlingford lough. Newry canal is not in our jurisdiction. As I recall, it links Lough Neagh down to Carlingford. I think that it is the oldest navigation summit canal in Britain and Ireland. There have been calls in the past for Waterways Ireland to take over the navigation responsibility for Lough Neagh, and, in the past, the Department asked Waterways Ireland to undertake feasibility studies to give it a picture of what that might cost. However, as John mentioned, it is ultimately for the Department in that jurisdiction, in consultation with the other sponsor Department, to conclude whether it is appropriate for Waterways Ireland to take on an extra navigation such as Lough Neagh or the Newry canal. Offhand, those are the only two that I can think of — and the Ulster canal. The Lagan canal is another one, I suppose.

Ms Kimmins: You have answered my question there, Joe. The potential to restore and reopen the Newry to Portadown canal came up recently, but, based on what you said, that is not in your remit.

Other current issues are the Narrow Water bridge and the southern relief road, which are big projects.

I know, because I have links in that area, that there is community concern about how the lack of lifting bridges would affect access to the waterways in and around Newry and Carlingford lough. Have you been engaged in any of the discussions on those big projects?

Mr McDonagh: I will answer first and then defer to Joe again if that is OK. To the best of my knowledge, unless Joe is aware of something else that was discussed prior to my time or informally. I will pass to him if I can.

Mr Gillespie: As far I am aware — I am looking over to Joe here — we have not been consulted on any structures that would span the Newry canal. The Ulster canal is a different matter. We have an advisory role with the council there, suggesting bridge heights and that sort of thing if there was a bypass. For instance, the Monaghan town bypass was created some years ago, and it provided a bridge with sufficient air draft to enable the reconstruction of the canal at some point in the future. For the Newry canal, the answer is no.

Ms Kimmins: That is grand. Thank you both. I appreciate your answers.

Mr K Buchanan: Thank you, Joe, Joe and John. I have a couple of questions. On slide 5, you referred to self-generated income, third-party income and government income. We will call it North and South government income. What sort of money or budget figures do you get every year approximately from self-generated income, and where does it come from?

Mr McDonagh: I will answer the last question first. It comes from a variety of places in the organisation. It can come from rental or lease income and from permit and licence fees that we charge. That predominantly makes it up. To put it in perspective, by referencing the international benchmarks, about 6·5% of our total budget — the numbers that you saw earlier — is from self-generated income. That is the size of it: about 6·5% of the total number. The issue is that if we compare ourselves with our international comparators, for example, again, Scottish Canals, we see that about 33% of its income comes from self-generation. It does that across a whole range of things, from potential utility broadband, renewable energy and various other opportunities that it has leveraged within the network.

One of the things for us to do under our 10-year strategic plan, which sits within the funding model that I referred to earlier, is to leverage more ourselves. One area that we are looking at, where there is an opportunity to do that, is the revision of the by-laws. The by-laws are the rules and regulations of all our navigations. Without getting into it now, which would take quite some time because it is complex, and to use simple language, they are all outdated and need to be revised. There is an opportunity for us to grow our income on the back of that. Ultimately, over the next 10 years, we need to become more self-sufficient. I will stop at that.

Mr K Buchanan: For clarity, on slide 9, does the total figure of £27,758 million include the self-generated 6·5%, or is that 6·5% on top of the total?

Mr McDonagh: That is a good question. That figure probably excludes it, but, to be certain, I will clarify that and send a note to the Chair.

Mr K Buchanan: I read that as £27 million-odd, based on the government subsidies.

Mr McDonagh: Yes, but I will clarify that if you do not mind. We will send you a note.

Mr K Buchanan: No problem.

My next question relates to numbers. You have approximately 300 staff, and you want to increase that to 381, which is roughly — believe it or not, I worked it out — a 27% increase. Where, and over what time, are you going to get the funds for a 27% increase in staff?

Mr McDonagh: To clarify, we are not looking to get to 381 per se. I refer you to slide 8 so that we interpret each other correctly. The remit number of 381 came from the original legislation 20 years ago. That sets out on a page an organisation structure for Waterways Ireland that has every post or role on it, showing a structure from CEO downwards. It adds up to 381 people. We have never been at 381 people. The left-hand side of slide 8 shows how many permanent staff we have each year. It is 300 at the moment.

We are trying to grow the 300 incrementally within the funding that we are given, and we do that on a prioritised basis relative to business need. We have had some flex in being able to do that in 2021 and 2020 because we have had some additional funding to enable us to do it. Ultimately, we are not saying that we are trying to get to 381. What we are trying to do, as part of a long-term plan, is produce a workforce plan. There will be science around that to identify specifically what resource we need for the next 10 years. We will present that to our sponsor Departments, and we will have a discussion about where we go with it.

Mr K Buchanan: I have another question on third-party funding. Third-party funding is not the same figure every year; it can go up and down. Approximately what kind of money are you talking about a year?

Mr McDonagh: That is a good question. To clarify, third-party funding refers specifically to capital projects. It will depend on the project. I will not be obtuse with you and try to give you an absolute number. I will try to give you examples. The project total for the Barrow blueway that we talked about is about €7 million, and our Department was asked to match-fund 25% of that. So, a quarter of the €7 million came from Dublin, and the other three quarters came from a third-party scheme, which happened to be the rural redevelopment scheme. In that project, third-party funding is about €5·5 million, which is spread across a couple of years, given the duration of the construction piece.

With the Ulster canal, which Joe referred to, phase 2 costs roughly €12 million. Again, in that particular case, there is a match-funding element, which I think is around 10%. So, ultimately, about €11 million has to come from somewhere, and the €11 million ask was originally, in November last year, coming from the rural redevelopment fund. Subsequently, the Shared Island Fund provided €6 million, so we are now awaiting the announcement, which is pretty imminent, about the balance. In that particular project, about €10 million out of the €12 million is coming from third parties. It depends a little on projects, but, to try to answer your question, in 2021, third-party funding could be of the order of between €5 million or €7 million, depending on the projects.

Mr K Buchanan: This is my final question, you will be glad to hear. Of your 300 staff, how many are involved in, let us call it, on-the-ground maintenance activities and how many do you bring in as contractors and subcontractors?

Mr McDonagh: Very simply, about two thirds of the 300, a couple of hundred people, work in operational roles outside in the field, as I call it. They do all the operational tasks to help with maintenance and project delivery. So, there are about 200 outside and 100 inside. However, we bring in people seasonally to do operational work on the outside: for example, lock-keepers or water patrollers. Our season runs from roughly late March/April to October, so you are talking about summertime. Those staff replace people who may be on holiday etc. In that event, we could bring in, potentially, another 30 to 35 seasonal workers. Of that number, a good chunk are for the Shannon navigation, where we bring in people to replace lock-keepers. It is of the order of about 30.

Mr K Buchanan: Thank you very much, Joe and John. I appreciate that.

Ms Anderson: Thank you for that presentation. I found it fascinating, and I am delighted to hear that you have already secured €6 million from the Shared Island Fund. I think that you are the first I have heard say that you have tied down funding, so well done on that. You will not be surprised to hear that my green-eyed monster is out for Derry and Strabane. Waterways are great assets, particularly for local leisure and tourism, and you outlined that very well.

I am thinking of my constituency, but I am conscious of what you said, John, about some things not being in your gift, so this could be somewhat academic. The map in your presentation does not indicate whether there is anything in Derry or Strabane or around that area. There are two canals locally, in Strabane and Ballykelly, which date back hundreds of years and exist to this day. I understand that construction was due to be carried out at the Strabane canal in 2006. There were restoration attempts, but, because construction was in a very poor state, the project failed. There was another organisation then: the Strabane Lifford Development Commission. Is it within your gift to do that, or is it simply out of range because it is not within your remit?

Mr McDonagh: I will answer a couple of those components. First, what you said at the beginning is correct: the Shared Island Fund, which was announced in December, is the first funding of that type. I can clarify that you are correct there. I say that because the Ulster canal restoration project is, in our words, a "shovel-ready" project, where we can actually do things and get construction going. That is recognised by the shared island unit, which is why the announcement came at the time. We continue to talk with the shared island unit about the restoration project, so there is an ongoing conversation there.

In relation to your area in particular, although I do not particularly like saying this, it is not within our gift to take on incremental projects outside the remit. If, for example, our sponsor Departments said that there was a particular navigation or project that they think complements what we are doing, we would have a conversation with them. Let us say, hypothetically, that we said that such a project made sense, our sponsor Departments would have to work out a number of things, including how it would be resourced. If they went through all that and felt that there was an imperative for it, they could, along with us, make a case to the North/South Ministerial Council. That is probably how the process would work.

I am not sure that very much of that has happened in my limited time here, and, truthfully, I have a portfolio of navigations with a lot of opportunities on them. My goal is to maximise those navigations with the resources that I have and to make my case to work with what I have. I hope that that gives you a sense where we are.

Ms Anderson: John, I appreciate that that is your focus, and rightly so, but my focus is Derry. I am standing up for Derry, and, therefore, as an MLA, it is my responsibility to campaign so that we get it brought to your attention. I take that on board.

I will ask you about the Ulster canal, because it will be a great boost for tourism. It will be great for the west of the Bann because, as you probably agree, it will entice visitors to travel outside Belfast to see everything that the island has to offer. What engagement has Waterways Ireland had with the tourism bodies to advance the west of the Bann and all that it has to offer?

Mr McDonagh: I will push that towards Joe Gillespie, as he is involved with Tourism NI.

Mr Gillespie: Before I answer, you referred to 2006 and the Strabane Lifford Development Commission. At that stage, Waterways Ireland was approached by those people, and we offered what advice we could, so I had been hopeful that that project would see fruition.

When it comes to tourism, we are working as best we can with Tourism NI and with Fáilte Ireland south of the border in relation to the Erne and the Ulster canal, which connects to the Erne. Joe is leading on that. At the moment, we are working in partnership with Fermanagh and Omagh District Council and with Tourism NI on a visitor experience development plan.

John referred to a Shannon tourism master plan for the Shannon, but the visitor experience master plan that Fermanagh foresees will look at the lakelands but also the Sperrins, so it is probably reaching closer to your area on the Derry side.

Ms Anderson: Yes.

Mr Gillespie: That is the work that we were doing there. Obviously, we are supported in our work by tourism on the Bann as well. That is just beginning and will be going out to tender shortly.

Ms Anderson: OK, Joe. Thanks for that. It is good to get that update.

Finally, the presentation that we received stated that your funding profile had dropped by 50% during the recession and that funding in recent years has started to stabilise and grow. Has Waterways Ireland received any indication from the Southern Government on the level of funding that you will receive, for instance over the next five years, as opposed to here where we are handcuffed by not having multi-year funding, as the Chair said? At the moment, we get funding only year-on-year. How does that impact on, for instance, your ability to plan investment?

Mr McDonagh: That is a great question. It impacts a lot on planning. One of the things that was concerning for me when I came in was that the planning horizons, if I could call them that, was a one-year business plan or a three-year corporate plan. We have a lot of assets, which I demonstrated to you, that tend to have long economic life cycles, given the nature of the infrastructure.

We agreed at that stage to make a case to the sponsor Departments to put in place a 10-year strategic plan. They supported that, and that plan, as I mentioned, will come to fruition in May. We will sit down with the sponsor Departments and discuss with them six strategic priorities. One of them is the funding model, and it covers quite a number of spaces.

One of the questions earlier was how much funding we generated ourselves, so that is a part of it. Another part of it is the difference between annual versus multi-year plans, and the benefits that longer-term planning can bring. A part of it is being able to say to sponsor Departments, "Here's our vision for the future, and, on the back of that, we actually think that, over 10 years or five years, we need this amount of funding".

We will bring those conversations about the plan, and all those points, to our sponsor Departments next month. We will then have a better sense of what funding may or may not be there. That is as much as I can say today, I am afraid.

Ms Anderson: OK. Thank you all for all that information. I really do appreciate the opportunity today to get the presentation from you. I am certainly going to leave this Committee more informed about the fantastic work that Waterways Ireland is doing.

Mr McDonagh: Thank you very much.

Mr Beggs: Hello there. Again, thanks for your presentation. It included some very enticing photographs, and it is clear that you have developed an attractive tourist and leisure product, so well done for that.

A greenway alongside a water course is a very attractive feature, which the wider community can enjoy as well. Would that be normal? Do you try to develop greenways alongside your waterways?

Mr McDonagh: I will answer and then let the two Joes contribute. I will take the Royal canal greenway as an example, because it happens to be the longest greenway in Ireland. The canal has been there for 220 years, and without getting into the detail of its history, was there for a purpose in the 1800s. It went into decline and remained disused. It was then reinvested in and, ultimately, came back into use in the early 2000s.

The greenway development started in about 2010. What we have there now, if you can imagine, is a linear canal that runs for quite a stretch — 130 kilometres or so — and we have a greenway that runs along the stretch. It is like a linear greenway as well, so you can do on-water or off-water.

From an attraction perspective, that is very enticing for everybody because it enables an awful lot of accessibility to do different things. It is a good-looking model. It is easier to do when you have a linear canal, if I could describe it in that fashion.

Look at the Barrow. The Barrow is a navigation that is made up of the canal and the river, and, at the moment, we are building 46 kilometres of greenway or blueway along it, and we hope to extend that. Again, that has happened there.

In places like Leitrim and Fermanagh, for example, there are smaller stretches of greenway that are like trails. Some of them run alongside the water, and some are a little bit adjacent to the water. That tends to be where we are at. In an ideal world, you would have the water on one side and the trailway next to it. It depends on the topography and various other things.

Mr Beggs: Under your operating model, do you tend to develop the infrastructure and then allow separate businesses to lease it and rent out the cruisers? Are you involved in the purchase and rental of boats as well?

Mr McDonagh: That is a good question, too. Our operating model is predominantly about what I would call providing infrastructure and accessibility to water. We do not, for example, have any involvement in the cruise-hire sector. We work with the cruise-hire sector through its association, which is called IBRA, the Irish Boat Rental Association, as we do with lots of other stakeholders. We work very closely with them, but, ultimately, we do not have an involvement in what I call revenue generation in that kind of revenue-generation model. No, that does not happen.

Mr Beggs: You mentioned that you have a COVID group. Foreign travel is banned at present, and it is likely to still be problematic this coming summer. I expect that, when things open up again, things will be busy once more. Certainly, we all hope that our self-catering accommodation will open very shortly, and that will, presumably, include cruisers on our waterways. How does your organisation try to protect the public from any effects of COVID when they are using the waterways?

Mr McDonagh: Again, that is a good question. We do a lot of internal and external communication. The normal route for communication about our waterways is through what are called marine notices. They are published either by our inspectorate or our marketing division, and they go to all regular users of the waterways. That is the first route. Given that many boat users have been using boats for many years, it is a well-established protocol around how we communicate. Within that, we are very clear in communicating what you should or should not do while setting out compliance guidelines etc. That is a well-developed, mature channel of communication that the people within it understand.

Then we have what I call the broader general public, and we try to do a mix of things there. We use social media to publish public compliance guidelines so that people understand when and where they can go, depending on where it is, which jurisdiction it is in and which compliant guidelines are in place. We then have staff positioned across our waterways to give guidance or intervene, if required. It is not without its difficulties; I will be honest about that.

I gave an example earlier of a particular location that is very attractive. I can think of one straight off: Acres lake. That is a small location down in Leitrim, and the boardwalk there goes out over the water. People love to walk on the boardwalk over the water. It is a very attractive place to be. It has a small car park. We are aware of those types of locations, and we zone in on them and make sure that there is good adherence to compliance. It is a mix of communication channels and intervention by our own people.

Mr Beggs: My final question is about the financing and the cost implications. If the Ulster canal is completed, it will significantly increase the availability of travel around Lough Neagh and the lower Bann etc and link into what you already have. What are your latest cost estimates for completing that connection? Secondly, you mentioned that you are only raising about 6·5% of your funding requirements at present. Does that indicate that there is considerable potential to grow the users on the existing facility, never mind when it is expanded in other areas?

Mr McDonagh: OK. I will answer your first question first, if I can. I need to be really clear that our remit allows us to take the Ulster canal restoration water project as far as Clones. I want to be clear with everyone that Clones is where the remit starts and stops. Effectively, we are looking at the stretch between Lough Erne and Clones. At the moment, we are doing sections on a phased basis.

Joe talked about the section from Clonfad to Clones. The estimated cost for that section is €12 million. If that funding comes through as we anticipate, we will get into construction and look to avail ourselves of the planning grant to get the work done by 2023. If you imagine a piece of string, at one end, we have the starter phase that was completed in 2019 that Joe referred to, and that is the Lough Erne stretch that has been done. Next, at the other end, the piece of the canal at Clones will be done, and, in the middle, we would have a stretch that needs to be completed. The middle stretch is referred to as phase 3, and there are very high level cost estimates for that stretch as we have not gone into the detail of phase 3 yet. I am going to go to Joe McMahon in a moment about that. However, at a very high level, the numbers are probably in the order of €65 million to €70 million to complete the piece in the middle.

If you look at the totality of the stretch to Clones — phases 1, 2 and 3 — and add the three numbers up, they total probably around €75 million or €80 million. If you do not mind, I am going to pause because I do not want to send you astray. I am going to check with Joe that I am thereabouts on the numbers.

Mr McMahon: Very much, John. There is just a bit of variance in phase 3. Phase 1 is complete, and the costs were circa €3 million. As John has mentioned, the costs for phase 2 are in the order of €12 million. Phase 3 has been split into a number of different sub-phases for delivery, planning implications and the various complexities concerning landowners and construction. We have four sub-phases within phase 3, and, as John alluded, the costs for that phase are high level and indicative at this point. We are conducting a number of studies to bring more certainty to the costs and timelines, as the previous costs for the restoration are now quite dated and go back to the planning applications. The phase 3 element of the costs is in the order of about €90 million.

Mr McDonagh: To clarify that and directly answer the question, if phase 1, 2 and 3 are added up, it looks like €3 million, €12 million and €90 million, which, in my language, is €105 million.

Mr Beggs: Can you clarify? Does that get us to Clones or Lough Neagh?

Mr McDonagh: That gets you to Clones only. I am trying to be very clear about where that gets you to. I am trying to make sure that I do not mislead you. We are talking about what sits within our remit and that brings us up to Clones.

I will try to address your second question. Your second question was about self-generated income, which I mentioned was about 6·5% of our total. I believe that there are opportunities to grow that over time, and that is part and parcel of the long-term planning piece. We will certainly look to leverage opportunities in the future. For us, the balance or tipping point is usually around what we do as a public body against what is potentially available that may be commercialized. Therefore, we have to be careful about that balance. Over the next five years in particular, there will be opportunities to grow to 6·5%.

Mr Boylan: Thank you very much for your presentation. John and Joe, I am glad that the Ulster canal is going to come up my way, unlike some of the other MLAs' constituencies, so I am happy enough. There are some encouraging projects.

These waterways are wonderful assets. Through the COVID period and afterwards, have you been working with the tourism board on a new plan for coming out of COVID? You mentioned staycations and the numbers. It may not be your remit, but there is a good opportunity here, post-COVID, to encourage more people to use the waterways. They are fantastic assets. Have you thought about that, or is it outside your remit?

Mr McDonagh: I can address that, and, if I need to, I will refer to the guys. There are a couple of ways of answering that. I referred earlier to the fact that the brand awareness of Waterways Ireland is very low. I mean that, in all the metrics, if we compare our brand awareness with that of other organisations in Northern Ireland or in Ireland that do similar things, the brand awareness is low. The first thing that we have to do is build a brand, and that will allow us to communicate to the general public what we have to offer. I do not think that we have done that well enough. That is the starting point. On the back of that, we can promote the waterways to new segments.

To give you an example, we did some research work before Christmas. We have a good sense of the segments, and we have some very dedicated users who know all about the waterways; some who know nothing about the waterways; and we have a segment, which is about 27% of the population of Ireland and Northern Ireland, who say that they are very interested in the waterways, as you indicate, but they have never used them. So there is a segment, which, interestingly, in how it is measured in the research, tends to be young families, if I could describe them as that. That segment is particularly interested in using the waterways and learning more about them. That is a target segment for us in building the brand and building communications to reach out to that segment, to help develop awareness. That is the first thing.

The second thing is, working with the Shannon tourism master plan, we now have an exemplar template, an operating model to help us do this on different navigations. That plan took about two years to put in place. As I said earlier, it is about £76 million worth of investment. It is predominantly investment in promoting tourism. Therefore, we are talking about promoting tourism the whole way along the River Shannon, which will help small and large businesses, the boat hire sector, bike hire businesses, coffee shops etc. That is quite a range. The way that we operate that model, with Fáilte Ireland and the 10 local authorities, we believe, could serve as a model that we can use in future for other navigations to create the same effect. So, though tourism is not specifically our remit, in what we do and the way that we do it, we can certainly contribute to that elsewhere. So my answer to that question is yes.

Mr Boylan: Thank you very much. I want to ask about something specific, because I have a keen interest in this. What about the Middletown to Smithborough stretch of the Ulster canal and the greenway? It is a small border village, and this could be a real game changer for the area. The way that I see it, it is not only providing a link between Monaghan and Armagh, it is about connected communities and sustainable travel, and there will be opportunities. Where are we in relation to the time frame. Are we on the road to delivering that Middletown to Smithborough greenway project?

Mr McDonagh: Joe Gillespie is on the advisory group, so I will pass your question to Joe, if that is OK, and let him deal with it.

Mr Gillespie: The Ulster canal greenway project is led by Waterways Ireland. We have Armagh in there and Monaghan County Council, with a project manager based in Monaghan council. I am happy to report that the section north of the border to Middletown went to planning in March, as did the section from Monaghan town out to the border. Those are now sitting in planning for consideration by the planners. There was much consultation with the planners ahead of that submission, so we are hopeful that those will go through smoothly. It will be a game changer for those communities. We hope that they will be well used. We have made an application to SEUPB for additional funding to make sure that we can deliver all that we said that we would deliver. That is still with SEUPB for consideration. It is a model of collaboration across the border in developing the greenway product and bringing an awareness of the waterway and the heritage that lies in that community. Having a greenway there will protect the Ulster canal for future generations.

Mr Boylan: Absolutely. My part of the constituency is there and borders Monaghan. I know Clones fairly well. I go down there and travel over to Leitrim to see some of the waterways. In the absence of the Ulster canal greenway moving forward up towards the likes of Charlemont, the Moy or Benburb, is there an opportunity to bring forward the greenway? We talked about funding earlier. There is a large cycling budget in the South. Have you tapped into that to try to encourage and promote some of those projects, especially as we try to move further north from Middletown in the future?

Mr Gillespie: As part of the work that we have done on the Ulster canal greenway, we have devised a strategy that has identified 12 routes either along the Ulster canal or running off from the Ulster canal. It will be for various partners to seek out the funding. A number of feasibility studies have been done on various sections, and it will be the job of the advisory group and individual councils to seek funding. For instance, Monaghan council is looking at the section that runs west from Smithborough towards Clones. It did a feasibility study there, after getting funding for that. Now, it is moving into the environmental phase and looking at studies to do with the ecology and that sort of thing. It got funding through the carbon tax fund in the South. Cavan County Council, again, funded through the carbon tax fund, has looked at the route between Cavan, reaching up towards Castle Saunderson, and the Ulster canal, reaching over to Belturbet.

As you say, there are a number of sources of funding in the South, either directly from a greenway fund or the Shared Island Fund, a rural regeneration development fund or an outdoor recreation fund, so we are not short of opportunities. As you say, the time is right to push forward with as many as those projects as we can, in partnership with the councils.

Mr Boylan: Absolutely. I enjoyed the presentation. I have one final point. We can learn from the COVID situation. I mentioned tourism, and, John, you explained that it is not only about tourism. There are opportunities here. It is about mental health and all the things associated with that. These things have created major opportunities for us. I can see from slide 25 that it is moving further north. There are three phases of the Ulster canal restoration. When do you foresee those phases being finished? What will your next steps be? It is maybe a wee bit early to ask that, but I just want to know where you are with that?

Mr McDonagh: I will defer that one to Joe McMahon, because he is the closest to it. Joe, can you pick up that one?

Mr McMahon: Thanks, John. We have talked about the fact that phase 1 is complete. We are now focusing on phase 2, in Clones, which is a kilometre stretch of canal from the canal stores in Clones out to the border at Clonfad. Subject to securing the balance of the infrastructure costs, we are hoping, all things being equal, to deliver that section by mid- or late 2023. For the phase 3 piece between Castle Saunderson and Clonfad that we have already talked about, as we have said, a sum of money has been secured through the Shared Island Fund to look at bringing forward various studies in order to develop some of the sub-phases within that.

We continue to talk to the Shared Island Fund people about potential future funding. There are a number of discussions ongoing around funding for infrastructure for phase 3. One section, or sub-phase, in phase 3 is totally within Ireland and will require new planning permission, because we will be timed out in 2023. We have proposals to commence the necessary work around that piece, this year, and get it back into planning in late 2022 or, probably, early 2023. Significant sections of phase 3 are in Northern Ireland and have planning permission. If we are successful in securing funding for those, we will get on with the work to deliver the infrastructure.

Mr Boylan: Thank you for the presentation. The waterways are a wonderful asset. Some day, the Fermanagh people will be able to travel up the canal to Clones for the Ulster final, if we hurry up and get it done.

The Chairperson (Miss McIlveen): I call Mrs Kelly.

Mrs Kelly.

We do not seem to have Mrs Kelly at the moment. We will move on to Mr Muir and come back to Mrs Kelly.

Mr Muir: All my questions have been asked by Cathal and answered by the panel. The Ulster canal will be of major benefit to the economy and to tourism. I like to go down to that area, but have not been there for over a year. It would be good to see the project in operation. If you have been watching recent documentaries, such as 'Ianród Enda', on the greenways, you will have seen their economic impact. You are doing a significant amount of work. I know that it is challenging, because trying to get landowner permissions, and the rest of it, can be difficult. I commend you for the work in that regard. You will probably want things to move at a faster pace than they will, but you need to do it right, and you need to bring people with you. The most important factor in these things is to bring people with you. It is important that we achieve this. If it is ever completed, Cathal and I can cycle the whole distance of it. That is a challenge to you, Cathal. [Laughter.]

I have no questions.

The Chairperson (Miss McIlveen): I will go back to see if Mrs Kelly is available.

We have a blank screen, but she is online.

We will conclude. I thank the three of you for your comprehensive briefing and for taking questions and answering them so fully. As I said in my introduction, it is a shame that we have not had an opportunity to engage before now. We look forward to meeting in person when we are permitted to do so. Hopefully, we will see you again soon.

Mr McDonagh: On behalf of Waterways Ireland, I thank you and your members. You are always welcome to visit us in Enniskillen when times allow. That is an open invitation.

The Chairperson (Miss McIlveen): Thank you.