The Royal Canal will be reopened to boat traffic next year and a stretch of the Ulster Canal from Upper Lough Erne to Clones will be restored, according to plans unveiled today.
Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Éamon Ó Cuív today published details of Waterways Ireland's capital works programme under the National Development Plan.
Under the cross-border body's plans, works on the Shannnon Navigation, including the extension of navigation to Glasson, Co Westmeath, will be completed, as will work on moorings at Ballina/Killaloe, and Kilglass, Co Roscommon.
Navigation will be extended to Lough Oughter and to Killeshandra, and the Longford Branch of the Royal Canal is scheduled to reopen.
A regional office will be built at Carrick-on-Shannon, along with offices, depot, workshops and stores at Thomastown on the Royal Canal, and new stores in Portumna and Tullamore.
The Waterways Ireland programme also plans to provide additional moorings and other facilities.
"Canal restoration projects have been shown to act as the catalyst for significant regeneration of rural communities in the past, including tourism growth," Mr Ó Cuív said.
"As these waterways run through some of the less developed areas of the country, their potential for acting as regeneration catalysts in this manner is considerable."
Waterways Ireland is an all-island body established under the British-Irish Agreement Act of 1999 to manage Ireland's inland navigable waterways. By the end of the NDP, Waterways Ireland expects to have in place a further 3,750m of moorings, 70km of new or improved waterway and a range of facilities such as car parks.