Old canal barge to be restored by young offenders

Part of our buried national heritage fleet of canal boats has been dug up and transported from its watery grave in Offaly to Limerick, where it may be used as a floating river restaurant.

The 32E was built by Ross & Walpole in 1926, for the Grand Canal Company, as a motorised general cargo boat capable of taking up to 50 tons. After been used to transport Guinness and maize along the country’s canal thoroughfares, it ended up as a dredging vessel before it was retired in the 1980s.

The old barge has now been salvaged from the Waterways Ireland depot in Tullamore, where it was under water for the past 14 years.