Across the boggy wetlands of four counties in Southwest Ulster lies the 67-mile skeleton of an engineering undertaking that almost pre-dates the 19^th century industrial revolution. Though not quite on the scale of the Great Wall of China it is an important historical artefact with strong symbolic ties to the island's past turbulent history, present day anxieties and future political aspirations.

What became known as the Ulster Canal in Victorian Ireland, was originally commissioned in the 1840's as a private undertaking by some enlightened souls in an effort to provide employment in the poverty afflicted region that had yet to be hit by famine. By 1851 it was in operation and provided the dynamic connection between Lough Erne and Lough Neagh. Financial restrictions had dictated restricted dimensions of the 26 locks and the waterway became known as the meanest one in Ireland. The original goal had been to provide a method of transporting coal south from Coalisland but the speedy arrival of the railways soon stole the trade. Apart from supplying a method of moving flax, demand for water transport declined and by 1900 the ownership and running of the canal had passed into civic hands.

When partition came in 1923, the complexities of management were a deathblow as the bed of the waterway crossed and re-crossed the new international border. The ends of the canal were in the new Northern Ireland but 50% of the centre section, and key water supply from Quig Lough to the highest pound, remained in the Free State. When the dust settled around the newly formed but still embryonic political institutions in Dublin and Belfast, interest in the region was abandoned and the slide into economic dereliction and social isolation began. Slowly the lock gates rotted away and the puddled clay bed became a convenient dumping spot. In places the towpath provided convenient all-weather smuggling routes for the cattle trade but, generally, the engineering feat of the 19^th century navigators was deemed to be destined for eventual oblivion.

Today, however, sixty percent of the original canal still exists and is located between the ten centres of population through which it once passed. Most of the locks and their keepers' houses remain and a number of motivated individuals with vision have begun to make waves about arresting further decline and preserving what has survived.

Much has been written about the positive social implication aspects of restoration, the 1997 in-depth feasibility study outlined how the successful re-opening of the Ballyconnell-Ballynamore waterway has set a striking precedent. Completed in 1985, the latter's restoration has surpassed all expectations and has completely changed the image of county Leitrim. The 32-mile task was a cross-border operation and was undertaken during the period when the administration in Northern Ireland was subject to direct rule from Westminster and C J Haughey was in power in Dublin. It was completed for a cost of under £40 million proving that where there is political will there is always a way to be found. In 1997 the restoration figure for the Ulster Canal was calculated to be in the region of £67 million but that may eventually escalate to nearer £200 million. It is estimated that the operation will take about four years to complete.

The facts surrounding the Ulster Canal are only slightly different to the Ballyconnell undertaking but, sadly, an able champion with sufficient punch to lead the project has yet to materialise. Work has already started to ensure that the positive aspects that could be delivered to the rural areas of south and east Tyrone and as well as Armagh are fully exploited for the benefit of all sectors of the community from the marginalised upwards. Official commissioning is still uncertain but taking advantage of the present across-the-divide aspect where all are at the same starting line cannot be allowed to simply fade away into history.

There are arguments against completing the last link of the original canal network but then it is easy to find an excuse to not get out of bed in the morning. It is the idea that Limerick or Belfast lurks at the end of the ribbon of water that makes the routes come alive. One doesn't ever have to get to the end but you can think about it.

The threat and implications of the Zebra mussel gaining access to Lough Neagh from the Shannon river system has been researched in depth and the successful natural containment of the problem in Hungary, from whence it came originally, through the balancing of natural predators has been noted. The fear that there will not be enough boats or that the tourist numbers will be too thinly spread to make fleet operations viable are hardly arguments and reveal blinkered thinking. The middle of Ireland is a huge almost untapped recreation area very much suited to central European tastes. Counting both banks a stretch of 120 miles of water frontage would be created thus providing routes for agricultural diversification and points of contact with the tourist traffic for neighbouring landowners.

One doesn't have to be a brain surgeon to grasp the stimulating opportunities for emerging generations that would quickly start to develop in the current underdeveloped border counties region of Monaghan, Armagh, Tyrone and Fermanagh should the project get the go-ahead. Even with my 1950's west of Ireland education the enormity of what is at stake is glaringly obvious and at risk of being lost if bureaucratic inertia is allowed to permeate too far into the process. What is at stake is the chance to dramatically boost the image of a somewhat socially deprived region in ways that raises self-esteem across the sectarian divide without loss of face to any quarter. The only worry is that the operation is in danger of being rendered inoperable by by the mushrooming bureaucratic sector that may follow in the wake of any ministerial approval that might be forthcoming in the near future.

If this canal project is allowed to collapse now it will tend to discredit any other work to broaden the present peace initiative that is being attempted. And that would be a real shame.

Tarka King