WATERWAYS IRELAND HAVE said that fencing on the Grand Canal is costing them €30,000 a week to maintain.

This is a stark difference in price compared to earlier this month, when the agency told the Oireachtas Public Accounts committee that the cost of the fencing had been €45,000 since May.

The fencing was erected after a multi-agency operation was conducted at the canal site in Dublin to remove a number of tents where people who were seeking international protection, and who had not been offered State accommodation, were residing.

This week, a coalition of activists tore down the fencing at the site during a protest on Thursday evening. The group called for an “end to the construction of hostile architecture” at the canal in Portobello.

In a statement to The Journal today, Waterways Ireland said the removal of the temporary fencing was “not helpful” and it was committed to “fully re-opening” all sections of the Grand Canal.

It added that having to erect the fencing was “not something we had ever envisaged”.

“We acknowledge that the current fencing situation along a stretch of the canal is not ideal, but it is necessary to mitigate risk to health and safety which is our over-riding concern,” a spokesperson for the agency said.

“We have been consistent in expressing our concerns for the health and safety of people staying in tents by the canal. The fencing is costing €30,000 per week,” they added.

Waterways Ireland CEO John McDonagh said earlier this month that barricades would continue to be erected along the canal if more tents are pitched. 

Waterways Ireland has, so far, spent more than €145,000 on removing tents and erecting fencing. A sp0kesperson today said it has met with local representative groups to listen to their concerns and discuss how might the agency reopen the section of the canal.

Yesterday, the protestors said that the fencing has “removed access to public space in the area” and has “not addressed the underlying issues of a lack of housing and housing accommodation”.

Fencing taken down along the Grand Canal in Portobello on Thursday evening.

They also noted that two men who were known to homeless services were found dead in the canal earlier this month and that the people who had be residing there had “no other option but to live in tents on the canal”.

The Community Action Tenants Union Rathmines branch said the fencing has “destroyed the limited public space available in this area and forced people to sleep rough in danger”.

Waterways Ireland today said a number of options are being explored including the “acceleration of a landscaping and biodiversity programme of works”. It added, however, that reports of vandalism to the temporary fences are “not helpful”.

“We would ask all parties to show restraint and allow the required multi-agency approach to find a workable solution which meets most needs,” the spokesperson added.

Labour leader Ivana Bacik said yesterday she was “shocked to see barriers thrown everywhere” in Portobello after last night’s protest, and while she acknowledged that “we are all frustrated at the fencing”, she said “this is not the answer”.

Bacik thanked local gardaí for their “swift action in clearing barriers from paths and roadways”.  However, People Before Profit’s Paul Murphy said action such as this “absolutely is the answer” and that it was “about time someone did this”.

With reporting by Diarmuid Pepper and Christina Finn.