A tourist attraction to bring the world to Waterford
An attraction of scale is being developed as part of Waterford's North Quays, which aims to position Waterford as an "international city destination"
In March 2025, Fáilte Ireland announced intentions to develop a ‘visitor attraction of scale’, which would position Waterford as an international city destination.
The attraction will likely be positioned on the north side of the River Suir, adding another element to the ongoing development of the North Quays.
To commence the project, Waterford City and County Council have entered a process with Fáilte Ireland to produce reports that will determine a location and decide what an attraction of scale should actually be.
To gather additional information on what an attraction of scale could add to Waterford, we spoke with a man who has put over 10 years of work into developing it.
We met Waterford’s John Hayes at his home in Fenor last week as he was preparing for the unveiling of an exhibit at the Chelsea Flower Show. The 70-foot wooden sculpture has been worked on by John, Christopher Wood, Christopher Dee and Heather Crompton. The creators have been working closely with legendary garden designer Sarah Eberle to deliver the project, which will be revealed next week when the show kicks off.
Born and bred in Ballybricken, the master craftsman and renowned chainsaw sculptor behind Special Branch Carvings has traversed the world with his creations.
He has successfully competed at international wood sculpting events, has had a starring role in a chainsaw carving TV series for Blaze TV, and has just returned home from the World Ice Art Championships in Alaska, becoming the first Irish person to ever take part in the competition.
His world record-breaking Dragonslayer piece - the longest ever sculpture from a single piece of wood – became one of Waterford city's most notable attractions when it was unveiled in 2017.
“It’s been nearly 15 years of a journey to get to this point,” John said.
“It’s a little bit surreal to be the first Irish person to compete in Alaska, and now to be involved in the biggest flower show in the world. I’m being paid to do something that I would pay to do, and the success of the business in the past couple of years has just been phenomenal. I still have to pinch myself sometimes.
“My biggest goal now would be to bring something special to Waterford."
Much of John’s life’s work has been dedicated to a project that could eclipse anything else currently available in the country.
For the past 10 years, he has been working alongside architects, engineers and designers to develop a major attraction of scale for Waterford’s North Quays.
In 2018, an early iteration of John's vision attracted national headlines, the 'Guardian of the Déise'.
The 200-foot-tall superstructure included a visitors’ centre, cable cars, and other attractions within its shell. The structure would be fully accessible, with lifts, viewing areas and large-scale interior attractions.
In the years since the Guardian first attracted attention, the vision of the project has evolved and grown.
John’s plans all involve linking the attraction to Waterford's and Ireland's cultural heritage and roots, and he sees the monument as a structure, which could help prevent young people from emigrating, and also attract Irish diaspora from across the world back to Ireland.
"My first exploration of the attraction of scale came from just sitting down here at home with a cup of tea and drawing out what I thought it could be. My initial plans are very different to what I have now because I’ve learned so much over the years, I've travelled and I've met so many talented people."
His plans are incredibly ambitious, and the attraction would be massive in scale.
“We want to build the Irish Statue of Liberty, which would bring Irish diaspora from all over the world to Waterford to plant their roots back in Ireland. I want to bring the best in the world here to develop something amazing for Waterford and Ireland.
“It needs to be something on a grand scale, but done so it is the embodiment of who we are. As passionate Déise and Irish people, we have so much to offer and there is so much talent here."
John continues to develop ideas and plans, but says that he hopes whoever receives the tender to deliver the project will create something special for Waterford.
“For me, the attraction of scale is hugely important for Waterford, and I really hope whoever does it will come up with something amazing to put us on a world map. It’s exciting and we only get one shot. I really hope it’s done right and I have faith it will be.
"We're going to keep working hard at it and hope we can bring something unique and put Waterford on the map."
John wishes to thank local councillors who have worked alongside him over the years and given him advice on how to approach the project.
Read more updates on the attraction of scale HERE
