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“I didn’t have a clue when I first bought my boat
. You just go along with it. Slowly I’m learning, you know?” It’s Saturday morning in Portobello Harbour. But based on the flurry of activity inside Gary Long’s Black Barge, somebody strolling the Grand Canal might assume it is a mid-week workday. The floors of his deck have been opened, revealing a blue diesel engine underneath. He hurriedly paces about, taking phone calls and chatting with people on the bank, while installing several new solar panels on his roof. Below deck, in his kitchen is Luis Gomezcala, another barger-owner, who hooks the panels up to a set of batteries. At Luis’ feet is his Siberian Husky. He emits the occasional soft howl for attention, while a jet black kitten – Corona Catalina – wraps herself around the trunk of a potted tree, blissfully indifferent to the world. On account of these upgrades, the barge’s interior is in the mildest disarray. Leftovers from a speedy breakfast are on the handcarved dining table. An assortment of tools scatter the kitchen countertops. Gary apologises for the Gossamer-thin mess, even if it scarcely detracts from the handsome decor of this place. The walls are pine. The furniture comprises antique lockers and ad hoc shelves. Potted plants occupy every corner and by his bed is a 78rpm gramophone. Gary acquired the barge back in July 2019. “I had it made in Liverpool and brought it over on a truck,” he says, offering the briefest of biographies. “Put it in the Canal. That was when I realised it was a huge problem trying to get a permit.” “So it was made from scratch?” “Yep, yep, yep. I think it took four months to build the shell and about six months for the inside. We’re going to put a cafe on the roof. Originally it was because they wouldn’t give us a permit. So I thought a commercial permit was the right way to go. But then they wouldn’t give us a commercial permit either.” The barge is moored beneath a willow tree. On the roof, he has laid a stretch of astro-grass with some deck chairs and a table. When the sun shines, even the graffiti tags on the side glisten. A cafe here would be idyllic, and the fact that these plans have been stalled frustrates Gary to the point that he replies to questions with the blinkers on. Sure, his home could coax the least jaded Dubliner off the land. But he has no time to espouse the virtues of barge life. All he can think about is getting a permit to moor in the harbour. In late June, he and three other liveaboard barge-owners on the Grand Canal were threatened with eviction by Waterways Ireland, the governing authority of rivers and canals nationwide. They were in breach of current by-laws, which prohibit boats from mooring at a single spot on the navigation for more than five days. Gary had consistently adhered to this law, moving his barge 500 metres each time the clock expired. However, when the pandemic struck the canal locks were closed and he was caught in a zone intended only for temporary moorings. Once the locks reopened on June 29th, the four were informed that they would have to move within ten days. Otherwise, their barges would be lifted, impounded and auctioned off. In response, Gary took a stand, drawing 18 up a petition which requested the barges be issued mooring permits. There are in Ireland only 28 residential mooring permits, Luis explains, 20 in Grand Canal Docks, and 8 in Shannon Harbour. “But around 500 people live on boats,” he estimates. “28 permits are not enough.” The other proposal was for Waterways Ireland to reflect on how this public space was used, with his case being that liveaboards add to the scenery and strengthen local security. “You’re adding life to the canal,” Gary says. “A lot of the canals are very derelict around Dolphins Barn, and if there were boats, there would be a lot less antisocial behaviour. There’s accountability there.” From the get-go the petition amassed signatures; 1,000 on the first day and a further 5,000 in the two months that followed. And fortunately, the evictions were halted on July 7th when the Minister for Culture and Heritage Malcolm Noonan intervened, calling on Waterways to find “a long-term and sustainable solution to regularise the use of the canals.” “The situation wouldn’t be where it is now if he hadn’t stepped in,” says Matt, another liveaboard owner, whose boat is moored in the Grand Canal Docklands. “Malcolm calls us the Custodians of the Canal,” Matt’s mother tells me one evening as we walk around the Basin’s berths which have as a backdrop the glassy gleam of “Silicon Docks” and the old Boland’s Flour Mill. “We organise a clean up here every month,” she says. “It’s like Gary said: having people on the water, it’s positive, very positive.” Gary and his boat, photos Claire Byrne