Coalition promises to "quickly progress the Waterford Airport project" in new Programme for Government

The next Government has committed to work to "quickly progress the Waterford Airport project" in the draft Programme for Government published today, Wednesday, January 15.

The Programme for Government makes the commitment to “work with all stakeholders to quickly progress the Waterford Airport project to lengthen and widen the runway, building on the previous government decision of 2019".

This comes on the back of pre-election promises from both major Government parties to progress the development of the airport following a scandal in which Fianna Fáil Minister of State James Lawless described the business case as a "pig in a poke".

Newly elected Waterford TD John Cummins, one of the six lead negotiators for Fine Gael alongside Ministers McEntee, Donohoe, Heydon, Carroll MacNeill and Deputy O’Shea, said he was "delighted" that the development of the regional airport was included in the document.

“When I stood for election, I said I would fight tooth and nail to deliver key projects for Waterford and one of those was the lengthening and widening of the runway at Waterford Airport," said Deputy Cummins.

"It is a project I believe strongly in because I know how impactful it would be for the entire region," he added, before commenting: "I’m delighted that agreement was reached to specifically name check the Waterford Airport Project in this programme for Government. In terms of aviation, the government has also committed to “work with stakeholders to achieve our objective of lifting the passenger cap at Dublin airport as soon as possible.”

The draft Programme for Government was presented to the party memberships today following an agreement between Fine Gael leader Simon Harris and Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin, with the support of the Independent Regional Group. 

It will now be the subject of approval by the party memberships over the coming days.