No need for speed on the Shannon

QUESTION

Is there a speed limit on the River Shannon? CERTAIN stretches of the Shannon, Ireland’s longest river, do have speed limits.

The most northerly part of the Shannon system is the Shannon-Erne Waterway, which links the River Shannon to Lough Erne in Co. Fermanagh. Originally, it was known as the Ballinamore and Ballyconnell Canal. After being closed for many years, it was restored and reopened as the Shannon-Erne Waterway in 1994.

Its total length, from Leitrim village to Upper Lough Erne, is 63 and it has 16 locks, operated by smart cards. On the channel stretches of this waterway, there is a speed limit of 5kph.

The total length of the Shannon is anywhere between 344 kilometres and 390 kilometres. Traditionally, it was regarded as rising at Dowra in the Cuilcagh Mountains in Co. Cavan, although recent research indicates that actually rises across the border in Co. Fermanagh.

The Shannon navigation itself stretches for 215 kilometres, from the Carrick-on-Shannon area to the Shannon estuary, and there are speed limits on certain sections.

If a boat is within 200 metres of a bridge, jetty or wharf, it must keep to a 5kph speed limit and the same applies if a boat is within 100 metres of a moored boat.

All along the length of the Shannon navigation, according to its bye-laws, boats should not be navigated at such a speed that they cause, or are likely to cause, injury or damage to people or to other boats. So the onus is on the skippers of boats, whatever their location on the Shannon system, to sail their boats at sensible speeds, even if they are nowhere near obstacles such as bridges or close to other boats.

However, in recent years, there have been a growing number of complaints about speed limits being ignored by people on jet skis or driving speedboats travelling at abnormal speeds.

David O’Meara, Wicklow town.