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Displaying items by tag: Arklow Marine Services

#LighthouseTender – The Commissioners of Irish Lights ILV Granuaile (2000/2,625grt) an aids to navigation tender vessel, is undergoing steel modification works while berthed in Dublin Port, writes Jehan Ashmore.

Work on the 79m long tender which is moored at Sir John Rogersons' Quay close to the East-Link Bridge, is been carried out by Arklow Marine Services.

The work involves fabricating of a new radar mast, installation of calorifier units and modifications to the bridge.

Steel work modifications entail fitting under deck strengthening in way of ROV pads which are to be in accordance and to the approval of Lloyds.

Killybeg based Barry Electronics are supplying and fitting a new radar which requires a new mast with existing steelwork and platform being removed.

The new calorifier unit which is to replace existing plant will be piped in using 316 stainless steel pipe materials. It is expected the quayside work be completed by the middle of this month.

ILV Granuaile is the third tender to carry the name of the famous Mayo pirate Queen.

She was built by the Damen Shipyards Group, where the hull and superstructure were completed in Romania in Galati, the largest port town on the River Danube.

Following launching, she was towed through the Black Sea to the Netherlands for fitting out at another Damen shipyard, where work included the installation of electronic equipment.

 

Published in Lighthouses

#ResearchVessel – The Geological Survey of Ireland (GSI) research vessel Keary, returned to her homeport of Dun Laoghaire Harbour today, having completed modifications at Arklow Marine Services, writes Jehan Ashmore.

The South African built aluminium catamaran craft had been hoisted onto the quayside at the Co. Wicklow port so to allow the work to begin.

She made her homebound journey with a high-speed transit through Dalkey Sound, and completed her voyage to the 820-berth Dun Laoghaire marina.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie the RV Keary was joined in October by the former Inland Fisheries Ireland cutter, Cosantóir Bradán. She is employed as part of INFOMAR, the national marine mapping programme, conducted by the GSI and Marine Institute.

Published in Marine Science

#PORTS & SHIPPING REVIEW - Over the last fortnight Jehan Ashmore has reported from the shipping scene where the Manx-UK winter operated Douglas-Liverpool (Birkenhead) route resumed service.

The port of Warrenpoint on Carlingford Lough was where 18 people suffered injuries arising from a toxic gas leak onboard Arklow Meadow, a dry-cargsship which had arrived with a cargo of grain.

For the sixth year in succession the Irish Travel Trade News Travel Awards voted Irish Ferries as Best Ferry Operator of the Year 2012.

A new book New Life for churches in Ireland, has been published and in which features the former Mariners' Church of Ireland, Dun Laoghaire, now home of the National Maritime Museum of Ireland.

Coliemore Harbour on Dalkey Sound (the medieval port for Dublin) is to undergo a survey to access structural damage on behalf of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council.

The Naval Service was kept busy within the first fortnight of this month with the detention of two foreign registered vessels for alleged breaches of fishing regulations off Castletownbere.

In a first for the Commissioners of Irish Lights and the Naval Service, a joint replenishment at sea (RAS) exercise took place involving the ILV Granuaile and coastal patrol vessel CPV L.É.Ciara (P42).

Killybegs based Sinbad Marine Services have put on sale the SMS Coastal Cat, a 12m survey workboat built locally at the Mooney Boats yard.

In 2013, ten cruise calls are scheduled to visit Dun Laoghaire, bringing around 10,000 visitors and where the 148,528 tonnes giant liner Queen Mary 2 is to make an anchorage call in mid-May.

Dutch owned heavy-lift specialist Abis Shipping are seeking professionals and trainees to work for the expanding company which this month is due delivery of newbuild Abis Dublin.

In an unprecedented move Irish Ferries are to add a third vessel between Dublin-Holyhead during Christmas and New Year periods while Stena Line are to bring back HSS fast-craft operations between Dun Laoghaire-Holyhead.

In what will be a third order for a wind-farm support vessel from Gardline UK has gone to Arklow Marine Services, the 19m newbuild is to be completed in July 2013.

Published in Ports & Shipping

#NEWBUILD – Gardline Marine UK returned to Arklow Marine Services, having placed an order for a third windfarm service vessel, though on this occasion to a totally new design, writes Jehan Ashmore.

The 19m newbuild is to be constructed with a flexibly mounted deckhouse and wheelhouse in order to reduce noise absorbtion. Work will commence in early January and delivery date is July 2013.

Last June, the boatyard launched Guardian 10 on the River Avoca, this second 20m wind farm transfer service vessel was commissioned for Gardline and Alicat.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie she made her delivery promotional voyage the following month via the North Channel to her homeport of Great Yarmouth.

Currently at the yard is the Geological Survey of Ireland's RV Keary, which is undergoing modifications. She was recently lifted onto the quayside and where work is due to be completed with the vessel scheduled for re-launching early in the New Year.

Published in Boat Sales

#NAVY VISIT – The Royal Navy's coastal training patrol boat HMS Charger (P 242) spent last night in Dublin Port having sailed from Liverpool's East Brunswick Dock. The vessel is based at the Commanding Officer of the Liverpool University Royal Naval Unit RN Headquarters on Merseyside, writes Jehan Ashmore.

The small boat measuring 20m in length and a beam of 6m remains this evening moored alongside the Poolbeg Yacht Boat Club Marina. The 100-berth facility faces Alexandra Basin where P&O Cruises Arcadia docked today.

HMS Charger is an Archer P2000 class patrol boat built by Waterfcraft Ltd of Shoreham. She provides practical navigation and seamanship training at sea where a crew recruitment unit takes place annually in early October from the universities in Liverpool and also from Lancaster University.

Last week HMS Charger called to Belfast Lough which included berthing in the city's Abercorn Marina basin next to the Titanic Quarter. Also visiting the basin this week was the newbuild WFSV Gardian 10 completed by Arklow Marine Services which was on a promotional delivery voyage to Great Yarmouth.

Published in Naval Visits

#FORMER IRISH LIGHTS TENDER -With the Guardian 8 preparing to set sail from her builders homeport of Arklow this month, as previously reported on Afloat.ie, her owners Gardline Marine Services also operate a former Commissioners of Irish Lights tender, writes Jehan Ashmore.

The Great Yarmouth based company operate a multi-purpose fleet which includes the survey vessel Ocean Seeker (PHOTO). She was a familiar sight as the ILV Granuaile (1970/1,943grt) while serving for three decades from the Irish Lights marine depot in Dun Laoghaire Harbour.

Built by Fergusan Brothers of Port Glasgow, she was the last traditional tender for CIL in that her working deck was positioned forward. Apart from the short career of the Gray Seal, the 2000 built successor ILV Granuaile (the third to carry the name of the Mayo pirate queen) was the first custom built tender for CIL to introduce a radical design with an aft end work deck.

Published in Lighthouses

#NEWBUILD NEWS - The first of two 20m windfarm service vessels (WFSV) is to be launched from Arklow Marine Services tomorrow, writes Jehan Ashmore.

The high-speed aluminium newbuild to be named Gardian 8, has been commissioned to service the offshore renewable industry in the UK, and handed over to her clients next month.

In the interim period, the WFSV which is twin-hulled is to take sea-trails before she is officially launched later this month to owners Gardline Group, based in Great Yarmouth.

Gardline have also ordered a sister WFSV, where the frames and longitudinal stiffening of the second newbuild are currently being fitted. She is to join the Gardline fleet with a delivery date in July.

Arklow Marine Services are also working on a 24m steel mooring barge for Bantry Bay Harbour Commissioners. The barge, which has a beam of 6m is scheduled for delivery in April this year.

Published in Ports & Shipping
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Ireland's offshore islands

Around 30 of Ireland's offshore islands are inhabited and hold a wealth of cultural heritage.

A central Government objective is to ensure that sustainable vibrant communities continue to live on the islands.

Irish offshore islands FAQs

Technically, it is Ireland itself, as the third largest island in Europe.

Ireland is surrounded by approximately 80 islands of significant size, of which only about 20 are inhabited.

Achill island is the largest of the Irish isles with a coastline of almost 80 miles and has a population of 2,569.

The smallest inhabited offshore island is Inishfree, off Donegal.

The total voting population in the Republic's inhabited islands is just over 2,600 people, according to the Department of Housing.

Starting with west Cork, and giving voting register numbers as of 2020, here you go - Bere island (177), Cape Clear island (131),Dursey island (6), Hare island (29), Whiddy island (26), Long island, Schull (16), Sherkin island (95). The Galway islands are Inis Mór (675), Inis Meáin (148), Inis Oírr (210), Inishbofin (183). The Donegal islands are Arranmore (513), Gola (30), Inishboffin (63), Inishfree (4), Tory (140). The Mayo islands, apart from Achill which is connected by a bridge, are Clare island (116), Inishbiggle (25) and Inishturk (52).

No, the Gaeltacht islands are the Donegal islands, three of the four Galway islands (Inishbofin, like Clifden, is English-speaking primarily), and Cape Clear or Oileán Chléire in west Cork.

Lack of a pier was one of the main factors in the evacuation of a number of islands, the best known being the Blasket islands off Kerry, which were evacuated in November 1953. There are now three cottages available to rent on the Great Blasket island.

In the early 20th century, scholars visited the Great Blasket to learn Irish and to collect folklore and they encouraged the islanders to record their life stories in their native tongue. The three best known island books are An tOileánach (The Islandman) by Tomás Ó Criomhthain, Peig by Peig Sayers, and Fiche Blian ag Fás (Twenty Years A-Growing) by Muiris Ó Súilleabháin. Former taoiseach Charles J Haughey also kept a residence on his island, Inishvickillaune, which is one of the smaller and less accessible Blasket islands.

Charles J Haughey, as above, or late Beatle musician, John Lennon. Lennon bought Dorinish island in Clew Bay, south Mayo, in 1967 for a reported £1,700 sterling. Vendor was Westport Harbour Board which had used it for marine pilots. Lennon reportedly planned to spend his retirement there, and The Guardian newspaper quoted local estate agent Andrew Crowley as saying he was "besotted with the place by all accounts". He did lodge a planning application for a house, but never built on the 19 acres. He offered it to Sid Rawle, founder of the Digger Action Movement and known as the "King of the Hippies". Rawle and 30 others lived there until 1972 when their tents were burned by an oil lamp. Lennon and Yoko Ono visited it once more before his death in 1980. Ono sold the island for £30,000 in 1984, and it is widely reported that she donated the proceeds of the sale to an Irish orphanage

 

Yes, Rathlin island, off Co Antrim's Causeway Coast, is Ireland's most northerly inhabited island. As a special area of conservation, it is home to tens of thousands of sea birds, including puffins, kittiwakes, razorbills and guillemots. It is known for its Rathlin golden hare. It is almost famous for the fact that Robert the Bruce, King of Scots, retreated after being defeated by the English at Perth and hid in a sea cave where he was so inspired by a spider's tenacity that he returned to defeat his enemy.

No. The Aran islands have a regular ferry and plane service, with ferries from Ros-a-Mhíl, south Connemara all year round and from Doolin, Co Clare in the tourist season. The plane service flies from Indreabhán to all three islands. Inishbofin is connected by ferry from Cleggan, Co Galway, while Clare island and Inishturk are connected from Roonagh pier, outside Louisburgh. The Donegal islands of Arranmore and Tory island also have ferry services, as has Bere island, Cape Clear and Sherkin off Cork. How are the island transport services financed? The Government subsidises transport services to and from the islands. The Irish Coast Guard carries out medical evacuations, as to the RNLI lifeboats. Former Fianna Fáíl minister Éamon Ó Cuív is widely credited with improving transport services to and from offshore islands, earning his department the nickname "Craggy island".

Craggy Island is an bleak, isolated community located of the west coast, inhabited by Irish, a Chinese community and one Maori. Three priests and housekeeper Mrs Doyle live in a parochial house There is a pub, a very small golf course, a McDonald's fast food restaurant and a Chinatown... Actually, that is all fiction. Craggy island is a figment of the imagination of the Father Ted series writers Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews, for the highly successful Channel 4 television series, and the Georgian style parochial house on the "island" is actually Glenquin House in Co Clare.

Yes, that is of the Plassey, a freighter which was washed up on Inis Oírr in bad weather in 1960.

There are some small privately owned islands,and islands like Inishlyre in Co Mayo with only a small number of residents providing their own transport. Several Connemara islands such as Turbot and Inishturk South have a growing summer population, with some residents extending their stay during Covid-19. Turbot island off Eyrephort is one such example – the island, which was first spotted by Alcock and Brown as they approached Ireland during their epic transatlantic flight in 1919, was evacuated in 1978, four years after three of its fishermen drowned on the way home from watching an All Ireland final in Clifden. However, it is slowly being repopulated

Responsibility for the islands was taking over by the Department of Rural and Community Development . It was previously with the Gaeltacht section in the Department of Media, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Sport and the Gaeltacht.

It is a periodic bone of contention, as Ireland does not have the same approach to its islands as Norway, which believes in right of access. However, many improvements were made during Fianna Fáíl Galway West TD Éamon Ó Cuív's time as minister. The Irish Island Federation, Comdháil Oileáin na hÉireann, represents island issues at national and international level.

The 12 offshore islands with registered voters have long argued that having to cast their vote early puts them at a disadvantage – especially as improved transport links mean that ballot boxes can be transported to the mainland in most weather conditions, bar the winter months. Legislation allowing them to vote on the same day as the rest of the State wasn't passed in time for the February 2020 general election.

Yes, but check tide tables ! Omey island off north Connemara is accessible at low tide and also runs a summer race meeting on the strand. In Sligo, 14 pillars mark the way to Coney island – one of several islands bearing this name off the Irish coast.

Cape Clear or Oileán Chléire is the country's most southerly inhabited island, eight miles off the west Cork coast, and within sight of the Fastnet Rock lighthouse, also known as the "teardrop of Ireland".
Skellig Michael off the Kerry coast, which has a monastic site dating from the 6th century. It is accessible by boat – prebooking essential – from Portmagee, Co Kerry. However, due to Covid-19 restrictions, it was not open to visitors in 2020.
All islands have bird life, but puffins and gannets and kittiwakes are synonymous with Skellig Michael and Little Skellig. Rathlin island off Antrim and Cape Clear off west Cork have bird observatories. The Saltee islands off the Wexford coast are privately owned by the O'Neill family, but day visitors are permitted access to the Great Saltee during certain hours. The Saltees have gannets, gulls, puffins and Manx shearwaters.
Vikings used Dublin as a European slaving capital, and one of their bases was on Dalkey island, which can be viewed from Killiney's Vico road. Boat trips available from Coliemore harbour in Dalkey. Birdwatch Ireland has set up nestboxes here for roseate terns. Keep an eye out also for feral goats.
Plenty! There are regular boat trips in summer to Inchagoill island on Lough Corrib, while the best known Irish inshore island might be the lake isle of Innisfree on Sligo's Lough Gill, immortalised by WB Yeats in his poem of the same name. Roscommon's Lough Key has several islands, the most prominent being the privately-owned Castle Island. Trinity island is more accessible to the public - it was once occupied by Cistercian monks from Boyle Abbey.

©Afloat 2020