Canal Pioneers IAN BATH

摘要

"Initially, this all happened 'out of the blue' - it was never my intention to become involved in the restoration of the Royal Canal," explains Dr Ian Bath. "But because it was close to my place of work, I used to walk sections of the towpath at lunch time." Yet, in 1973, he felt compelled to initiate a campaign to save the canal, and over the next 13 years his leadership produced a complete turnaround in the canal's future which has resulted in a commitment by Waterways Ireland for its reopening from Dublin to the Shannon Navigation, hopefully in 2007. The Royal had already been closed to navigation for 12 years when An Taisce, the National Trust of Ireland, called a meeting in December 1973 to review the canal's future. The Government had set up an ad hoc committee to study whether the Grand and the Royal canals should be transferred from CIE, the Irish transport authority, to the Office of Public Works.