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Displaying items by tag: New UK Controls

As of Wednesday midnight, new UK customs controls have come into effect on exports crossing the Irish Sea from the Republic to Britain.

It was the British government that flagged the move, however this was delayed several times since the nation left the European Union in 2021.

The authorities in the UK, will now demand documentation including declarations and notification of goods exported from the Republic. In addition, the new controls will involve health certificates for the exportation of live animals, meat and some other foods.

At midnight, 30th January, the controls came into immediate effect on goods shipped to Britain, which applies to anything exported from that point.

The implementation of the new customs rules, according to exporters’ predict that the controls will see further red tape and increased costs.

In response to the impact on the export industry, Simon McKeever, chief executive of the Irish Exporters’ Association (IEA), last week told The Irish Times, that the customs changes would mean extra paperwork for numerous firms coupled with a rise in costs.

He added that there were also concerns for the industry due to unforeseen problems as the new system of controls beds in.

The newspaper has more on the development.

Published in Irish Ports

The Irish Cruiser Racing Association (ICRA) Information

The creation of the Irish Cruiser Racing Association (ICRA) began in a very low key way in the autumn of 2002 with an exploratory meeting between Denis Kiely, Jim Donegan and Fintan Cairns in the Granville Hotel in Waterford, and the first conference was held in February 2003 in Kilkenny.

While numbers of cruiser-racers were large, their specific locations were widespread, but there was simply no denying the numerical strength and majority power of the Cork-Dublin axis. To get what was then a very novel concept up and running, this strength of numbers had to be acknowledged, and the first National Championship in 2003 reflected this, as it was staged in Howth.

ICRA was run by a dedicated group of volunteers each of whom brought their special talents to the organisation. Jim Donegan, the elder statesman, was so much more interested in the wellbeing of the new organisation than in personal advancement that he insisted on Fintan Cairns being the first Commodore, while the distinguished Cork sailor was more than content to be Vice Commodore.

ICRA National Championships

Initially, the highlight of the ICRA season was the National Championship, which is essentially self-limiting, as it is restricted to boats which have or would be eligible for an IRC Rating. Boats not actually rated but eligible were catered for by ICRA’s ace number-cruncher Denis Kiely, who took Ireland’s long-established native rating system ECHO to new heights, thereby providing for extra entries which brought fleet numbers at most annual national championships to comfortably above the hundred mark, particularly at the height of the boom years. 

ICRA Boat of the Year (Winners 2004-2019)