'A pig in a poke': Waterford Airport business case 'could be a lot stronger' says Minister of State

The Minister of State at the Department of Transport has downplayed the strength of the business case for the extension of the runway at Waterford Airport, comparing it to a "pig in a poke".

"Whether the money comes at the start, the middle or the finish, the fact is the State is being asked to contribute significant funding to buy a pig in poke to an extent, based on a business case that, being frank, could be stronger... could be a lot stronger," said Deputy James Lawless, Minister of State at the Department of Transport in response to a parliamentary question in Dáil Éireann yesterday.

Deputy Lawless said that the business case is "predicated on the basis that its first year of operation would exceed its best-ever figures of operation in the past". 

"In year one in the new environment, it would beat the best-ever year in the previous environment. In reality, figures declined from 2008 to 2016 when the airport ceased scheduled activities."

"One could point to the M9 motorway and ask if that is a factor in that decline. The region is well served in other ways. I am open to the idea but the proposal must be strengthened."

The Minister of State was speaking in response to a parliamentary question from Independent Waterford TD Deputy Matt Shanahan, who had asked the Minister of Transport for an update on the Department's position on the proposal for government funding to extend Waterford Airport's runway.

The Waterford News & Star recently confirmed that the Department of Transport had received the assessment of the resubmitted business case prepared by Waterford Airport but that no decision has been made yet on the case. A decision is still pending today, waiting for the Ministers to make a determination on the project based on the appraisal.

"This assessment was recently submitted to both myself and the Minister for our consideration," Deputy Lawless said, before noting that the costs involved in the project had increased since the works were first proposed. 

"The project costings have increased substantially above the original estimated cost of €12 million to €27 million, deviating significantly from the airport’s proposal in 2019."

The Minister of State emphasised that the criteria for the project would be value-for-money. 

"A project completing construction is not an end in itself," he said. "Building a runway in itself is not an end goal; flying planes from it successfully for a number of years is."

Deputy Shanahan hit back at the government saying, "I just cannot share the Minister of State’s opinion that the private sector, which is putting probably €24 million into this project, does not know what it is doing but the Department does. I remind him that in 2007, a Fianna Fáil Government gave a commitment to do the runway extension at Waterford at a cost of €25 million. Just like 24/7 cath lab, our university and the N24 and N25, all these political promises have turned to ash.

"I contend the only thing blocking this project is the Minister’s evangelical ideas around aircraft emissions."