Marinas, Canals, Waterways

[Eddiey]

Just a follow up on resent visits to both Cobh and Bantry Aires, The revenue raised from Motorhome parking in Cobh was around 42.000 Euro for 2018 at 10 euro a night and managed by Cork C/C.
Bantry what I understand is managed by the Harbour Commission and is a fantastic Aire and great value for money with toilets,free electricity,water,wi/fi and pump out.
I was in Dunmore east recently and the parking area on the breakwater by the marina has a sign up that no overnight parking is allowed. Could Waterford C/C or the Har-bour Commission not look at these Aires and realize the amount of revenue that can be raised. They already have the perfect area in place to start the Aire.

[Madwitch]

Bantry aire is expensive, given that the same facilities are available at the Westport Hotel just up the road, which is €10 a night (though no EHU). Bantry did reduce their charge after lots of complaints. Another great Irish one is the Hub at Graiguemananagh. (Barrow Valley Activities Hub). This is a joint venture between the local council and the local community and was reported to have brought in over €1.5m to the local economy last year. Irish Waterways also have a fantastic scheme where you can stay on most of their marinas (some paid, some free). You can buy a card in local shops for a certain number of units (if I remember it was €10 for 12 units) and you could use these cards to access the toilets, showers and washing machine etc. It was 2 units for a shower, toilets were free, and the washing machine was 5 units. The only problem we found was that in many, there was no black waste disposal as it was only geared up to a pumping station for boats. We spent around 5 weeks in Germany and Denmark over the summer and most of the places we stayed were on marinas or harbours. For around €10 a night including EHU, showers, toilets these were fantastic stopovers.

Such a shame we can't get marinas and harbours here to recognise the potential.

[Steve]

Any chance of one of getting information from Rish Waterways that we coukd use as an example to th UK equivalent?

[Eddiey]

Exactly what I wanted to do when I get time!

I asked for information on Total Motorhome Ireland and got pointed to Seamus Murray post and some other marinas etc were suggested. Just getting round to to doing it.

[Madwitch]

Portumna and Terryglass are the most popular. Parking here is paid for. Others include:

Ballinamore
Keshkerrigan
Hudson Bay
Shannon Bridge
Thomastown
Dromineer
Banagher
Garrykennedy
Tarmonberry
Houghtons Shore
Hodson Bay
Clondara
Leitrim Village
Coosan Point

A few of these have full facilities (toilets, showers, laundry etc) for which you will need an Irish Waterways Card (available from local shops); others are free.