Foreign visitors - mostly Germans, Swiss and the French contributed £8 million to the Shannon hire boat sector in 1999. Private boats contributed a similar figure to the local economy.

The Shannon/Erne link alone, has contributed at least £7 million per year to the largely rural economy since it was reopened in 1994.

Anecdotal evidence suggests the foreign spend is decreasing but is is being replaced by a higher spend from indigenous tourists.

There are up to 100,000 boat trips expected on the Shannon this year, compared to 50,000 in 1990. There are more than 3,500 boats on the river including about 750 hire boats.

Navigation is possible from Limerick to Belleek in Co Fermanagh via the Shannon-Erne link, to Dublin or Waterford via the Grand Canal and the Barrow respectively, and to Ballinasloe in Co Galway and Boyle in Co Roscommon. Work is underway to reopen the Royal Canal providing access to Dublin through Co Longford.

The channel through Baals Bridge in Limerick is being widened and deepened in a move which will allow 17 hours a day access to the Atlantic.

The British and Irish governments have recently commissioned the second report in three years on the reopening of the Ulster Canal, from Fermanagh across Monaghan and Armagh to Lough Neagh.

If reopened the Ulster Canal would connect the network of waterways making navigation possible to the north Antrim Coast at a cost of about £68 million sterling.

This project is likely to attract significant funding from the European Peace Fund, Interreg, or the Ireland Funds, possibly a combination of all three.