Ireland’s Prime Minister, Micheál Martin, has announced funding of €30 million for the Ulster Canal restoration project. The contribution will come from the Shared Island Fund towards the delivery of the project’s third phase.
WORK on the multi-million-euro project will begin next year and is set to be completed by 2029. The new funding package will support the completion of a 10km navigable canal section linking Clones, in County Monaghan, to Castle Saunderson, in County Cavan, on the Erne System, fulfilling a key commitment under the New Decade, New Approach agreement.
The third phase will deliver 10km of new and refurbished navigable canal and a new 9km Ulster Canal Greenway from Clones to Gortnacarrow. The plan will also deliver a designated pollinator corridor as part of the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan supported by Waterways Ireland, strengthened cross border tourism, and a blueway network linking communities north and south.
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This funding ensures that this phase will be delivered in full, reconnecting Clones to the wider inland waterways network for the first time in generations. The Central Border area has been greatly affected by Brexit, and this project is said to mitigate its impact here.
Waterways Ireland, which will deliver the project, is one of six North/South bodies established under the historic Good Friday agreement.
