{"id":300897,"date":"2026-02-16T12:58:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T12:58:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/300897\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T12:58:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T12:58:18","slug":"celtic-mist-charles-haugheys-former-yacht-to-end-service-after-role-in-marine-research-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/300897\/","title":{"rendered":"Celtic Mist, Charles Haughey\u2019s former yacht, to end service after role in marine research \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Celtic Mist, once the pleasure cruiser of former Irish taoiseach Charles Haughey<\/a>, is to set sail on a final season of research with the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG). <\/p>\n

The 17-metre yacht was donated to the IWDG<\/a> by the Haughey family in 2011 and has surveyed more than 100,000km of Irish inshore and offshore waters since 2012. <\/p>\n

The IWDG has announced that 2026 will be the last season for the dedicated research vessel.<\/p>\n

It has been used to undertake systematic visual surveys for whales, dolphins, porpoises and wider marine wildlife around the Irish coast. The data it collects is used for marine conservation, research and policy. <\/p>\n

After its donation, refit costs of the French 17m steel-hulled yacht<\/a> was estimated to cost \u20ac50,000, with annual running costs estimated at between \u20ac20,000 and \u20ac30,000 at the time. <\/p>\n

Celtic Mist has circumnavigated the island of Ireland on five occasions, and sailed to the Isle of Man and the Inner Hebrides in Scotland.<\/p>\n

In 2018, the vessel embarked on a seven-week expedition to Iceland<\/a>, where she rounded the famous Hornstrandir, Iceland\u2019s most northernmost peninsula, entering into Arctic waters in search of humpback whales. <\/p>\n

\"CharlesCharles Haughey on Celtic Mist <\/p>\n

Last year, the Celtic Mist completed a 3,300km survey with Fair Seas as part of the campaign for Marine Protected Area legislation to protect, conserve and restore Ireland\u2019s marine environment. Over 11 weeks, volunteer skippers and crew recorded more than 2,000 individuals of eight species of whale and dolphins. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re sad to see the end of the Celtic Mist\u2019s journey with the IWDG,\u201d Celtic Mist officer Andrew Shine said. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur members have had an incredible experience over the last 14 years living, sailing and surveying along Ireland\u2019s stunning coastline. <\/p>\n

\"TheThe Irish Whale and Dolphin Group has said 2026 will be the final season for its dedicated research sailing vessel, Celtic Mist, formerly owned by Charles Haughey. Photograph: IWDG <\/p>\n

\u201cThey have encountered some of the most spectacular marine wildlife in the northeast Atlantic and that would not have been possible without the Celtic Mist and the generosity of the Haughey family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shine said the vessel is now 50 years old and \u201cthe rising cost of maintenance and challenges in finding willing and experienced volunteers to skipper and crew her means that 2026 will be her last year\u201d. <\/p>\n

The vessel was previously docked in Dublin\u2019s Grand Canal Basin during the winter but is now based in Kilrush, Co Clare. <\/p>\n

The IWDG is hosting an event at Poolbeg Yacht Club in Dublin on Friday evening to launch the results of the 2025 season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Celtic Mist, once the pleasure cruiser of former Irish taoiseach Charles Haughey, is to set sail on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":300898,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[6231,61,60,82,263],"class_list":["post-300897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-charles-haughey","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300897\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/300898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}