Greater push towards regularising river 'liveaboards'

Demand for houseboat living has soared in recent years with spiralling property prices. Yet there are just 28 residential permits granted in Ireland- 20 in Grand Canal Dock and eight in Shannon Harbour.

Hundreds of people living on boats on canals, rivers and lakes will not now be evicted, it has been confirmed.

Its estimated that there are hundreds of people residing on so-called “liveaboards” across the country's waterways.

There is no explicit provision for liveaboards on the Irish Inland waterways, however waves began to appear after six boat-owners who were living on the Grand Canal in Dublin were last month given final notices. The owners were told that their boats would be lifted out of the water, stored and could be later sold at auction, if they did not comply.

However, after a meeting with Minister of State for Heritage Malcolm Noonan last week, Waterways Ireland agreed not to remove any liveaboard boats, for now.

Demand for houseboat living has soared in recent years with spiralling property prices. Yet there are just 28 residential permits granted in Ireland- 20 in Grand Canal Dock and eight in Shannon Harbour.

Waterways Ireland believes there are more then 170 boats in breach of various regulations at Grand Canal Dock, Portobello, Hazelhatch, Sallins and at Castleknock on the Royal Canal alone.

They meanwhile consider there could hundreds more living on vessels on inland waterways such as the River Erne and Shannon Navigation.

Deputy Noonan, recently met with Waterways Ireland acting chief executive John McDonagh, who raised concerns about a regulation free-for-all and would like to see 'liveaboards' regularised.

Waterways Ireland is responsible for the management, maintenance, development and restoration of 1,000 km of the inland navigable waterway system throughout the island, principally for recreational purposes, including the Lower Bann Navigation, the Erne System, the Shannon-Erne Waterway, the Shannon Navigation, the Grand Canal, the Royal Canal and the Barrow Navigation

Since 1998 the cross-border body has invested significantly in Ireland’s waterways, adding floating jetties, supplying water and power, as well as providing toilet, shower and laundry blocks.