David Cullinane speaks on 24/7, Waterford Airport, and more
David Cullinane in the Waterford News & Star offices last week.
Six months ago, Sinn Féin's David Cullinane was once again comfortably re-elected on the very first count in Waterford.
Last week, the Deputy sat down with the Waterford News & Star to discuss the term so far, along with major issues impacting Waterford and the wider South East region, such as Waterford Airport and 24/7 cardiac care.
He explained his relationship with government TDs Mary Butler and John Cummins following the heated speaking rights debacle earlier this year, and his recent controversy surrounding his comments on a UK court ruling, which excluded trans women from the definition of “woman” in equality law.
Waterford Airport was raised once again in City Hall last week, with local councillors told that correspondence sent to the Minister for Transport on behalf of the council had still not been responded to.
The issue continues to dominate political discourse across the county, and the two Sinn Féin TDs are no exception. In recent weeks, both McGuinness and Cullinane have raised the matter in the Dáil.
Despite this representation, Sinn Féin's pre-election manifesto had no specific mention of Waterford Airport contained within it, only placing an emphasis on developing routes to airports other than Dublin Airport, such as Cork, Shannon and Knock to provide a "substantial economic boost in these areas and the surrounding areas".
This week, Deputy Cullinane was questioned about his commitment to the airport, whether the proposed runway extension will go ahead, or if the opportunity is fleeting.
“I just won't give up hope on it. It's too important,” he said.
“There is still a lot of very, very serious weight and muscle coming from the Chambers of Commerce, coming from the political system, coming from senior council officials and so on.
“We need to actually have more pressure, pile the pressure on to make sure that we get this over the line, because for me it's an issue of fairness, but it's also an issue of giving the South East the same chance other regions have."
Deputy Cullinane also outlined the importance of developing Waterford Port, emphasising the importance of offshore energy off local coasts and its potential to provide an economic return for what “could be hundreds of millions of euro”.
“It’s massive money if we get this right and it's the same for the airport,” he said.
Excitement surrounding the North Quays has peaked in recent weeks, with the arrival and installation of the sustainable transport bridge.
Cullinane complimented the progress, saying it has the potential to be "iconic" for the city.
He also said that he believes all elements of the project will be delivered, with apartment blocks, hotels and opening of the transport hub still years away.
“I have met with Harcourt who are over the development of the project. They're very ambitious, they're very professional, they have a lot of national and international experience. They are heavy hitters in this area so I think that they will make this happen.
“I'm confident that all of the elements of it will be delivered. We'll obviously have to watch it as it progresses, but from my interactions with Harcourt, given their professionalism, I would say that they will deliver on all elements of the project."
Since cabinet approval for 24/7 in Waterford was granted two months ago, we seem no closer to a definitive timeline or secure plan for delivery.
Deputy Cullinane said that the recent cabinet approval is merely the first step in what will continue to be a very lengthy process of getting the service up and running.
He added that it may take years before 24/7 is implemented.
"The clock only starts ticking when the policy decision is made and it was only a couple of months ago that decision was made.
"That means that we have to now recruit additional cardiologists, which is really difficult to do so we've lost five or six years at least, and we're now only starting that process.
"I would be amazed come the next election, that 24/7 cardiology would be in place in Waterford and I think there are still a lot of question marks about whether or not this will happen and how quickly it will happen.
"I hope it will. I'll be putting pressure on, but we really need to see a plan coming from the Minister for Health and from the hospital that says, here is the staff complement that we need to transition to a 24/7 service."
Asked about the image of Minister Mary Butler and Micheal Martin stood outside UHW in 2016, Cullinane said, "I didn't think it would take this long and that left a very sour taste in people's mouths."
Deputy Cullinane was recently embroiled in controversy surrounding a social media post in which he referred to the recent Scottish Supreme Court ruling on the legal definitions of a woman and biological sex as a "common sense judgement".
Deputy Cullinane subsequently deleted the post and apologised.
The Deputy said that he recently had a private meeting with the Pride of the Déise committee, who had previously written an open letter to the TD, which said that his comments were "anti-science".
Speaking on the recent meeting, Deputy Cullinane said, “It went very well and I would have had a good engagement with Pride locally for a long time. It was a very constructive meeting and we discussed lots of issues."
Further explaining his position on the tweet, Deputy Cullinane said that X is not the platform to engage in such topics.
“I had put a Tweet out that was actually misinterpreted by a lot of people, but because of the nature of X more so than anything, it attracted a lot of hate coming from people who were coming from an anti-trans perspective.
“X can be a very toxic platform, it can attract a lot of negativity and in this case a lot of hateful comments. So for that reason I took the tweet down.
“There are issues that are complex and we have to have the space to deal with them and have conversations in relation to them, but it has to come from a position of respect and tolerance, so I put my hands up because X wasn't the place to do it.
“The level of hate that came towards the trans community from that tweet was unacceptable.”
“Initially after the election, there was a disappointment that we weren't in government," Cullinane said on his party's current position.
"Of course in politics you do want to be in government where you can actually make decisions as opposed to being in opposition, which obviously has its role as well and it's important, but we had been hoping to be in government and that didn't work out."
Despite Sinn Féin's position nationally, Cullinane complimented his party's strong Waterford presence, describing it as "very dominant" in the city and county.
"We have solid representation now in the west, and obviously in the east here as well, covering the city, Dunmore, Passage, Cheekpoint and across the city.
"We are now a very dominant party here in Waterford at a local level in terms of the council, but also in terms of Dáil representation."
The turbulent start to the new government's term sparked by the controversy over Dáil speaking rights, has not drastically impacted relations with fellow constituency TDs, Cullinane said, adding that he works well with both.
“I would say I have a very healthy relationship with both. I know that maybe because of issues in relation to the speaking rights issue, it might have become a little bit strained with Mary for no other reason than she was the Chief Whip, but she has her job to do as Chief Whip, which I accept and I have my job to do as an opposition party.
“But I hold both of them with high regard, and I take the view that I want the very best politicians representing Waterford across all parties."
Asked how often he engages with the two government TDs, the Deputy said, “We would have private conversations in the corridor, or we might have a coffee with them or just meet them and exchange views on local issues."
