The Lord Mayor of Dublin Councillor Catherine Byrne officially launched the Liffey Voyage tour service on the 26th of September.

The Spirit of Docklands the 48 seater boat was escorted up the river Liffey by a flotilla of small boats bearing colourful characters including ‘Vikings’, ‘James Joyce’, ‘U2’, and various charters beating drums.

The Spirit of Docklands operates between The Halfpenny Bridge and the East link bridge in Ringsend, exploring the historical sights and new land marks along the river Liffey.

A tour guide on board delivers interesting information on the city and the Docklands area throughout the journey. The script for the tour guide has been devised by Pat Liddy, the renowned Dublin Historian. At the moment there is only one landing stage open that is at Bachelor’s Walk. Further landing stages will be installed along the rivers campshires soon.

Killary Cruises operates the Liffey Voyage tour service. Established in January 1998, Killary Cruises successfully developed and operates spectacular sight-seeing cruises on the Killary Fjord in Co. Galway on board ‘The Connemara Lady’, a 150-seater luxury catamaran.

The Liffey Voyage project is part of the River regeneration strategy of the Dublin Dockland Development Authority, which aims to bring life back to the river Liffey.

Other projects include the proposed purchase of the famine replica ship, the ‘Jeanie Johnston’ as a visitor attraction on the Liffey and redevelopment of the Dublin City Moorings to provide accommodation for super-yachts and vessels up to 1,000 tonnes at Custom House Quay.

The Liffey Voyage tours depart from Bachelor’s Walk, from 10am till 4pm on the hour up to the end of October and finishes at 2pm in November and December. The Journey takes approximately 45 minutes. High and low tides will restrict tours, when the boat will be unable to pass under the bridges.

Pictured, right, on board the ‘Spirit of Docklands’ are May Kane and Peter Tobin.