Exclusive: 'I'm going to pursue this to the very end': Airport Chief speaks out

When it comes to Waterford Airport, William Bolster wears multiple hats; the largest shareholder of the airport and a member of the board, one of the investors to deliver the runway extension project and the owner of the Bolster Group. It has been a busy year preparing the business case and communicating back and forth with the Department of Transport, he said, but in the last month, the subject has built up to a fever pitch in the Dáil and in public.  

William Bolster sat down with the Waterford News & Star to discuss the last month and gave a "glass half-full" forecast for the airport's future. 

Hopes were buoyed last year when the airport secured €12million in private funding to fund the extension of the airport's runway to accommodate jet-engine planes as part of a public-private partnership agreement to fund the project. The only stepping stone was the government approving the business case they submitted in December last year, but as time has dragged on worries have built up.

Why should the government fund the runway extension?

"I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel," he says, "if you look at any airport in any country, no matter what size, and you just look at what goes on around it, that will answer the question. You have industry, you have tourism, you have many jobs that come from the airport." 

He points to Kerry airport, "If you look at Kerry Airport there was a study done where they reckon it's worth €850 million a year to the local economy. So why can't we be the same?"

The overall cost of the runway extension project is €27 million with the investors asking for around half of that from the government. 

"It's almost a unique setup in the South East," he said. "We have a group of investors that are willing to put up pretty much 50% of the money and we are asking for government support for the balance now. The project comes with local authority support from Kilkenny, Wexford and Waterford, which I think is crucial to the project because it shows it's a regional project.

"This is about the South East, it's not about Waterford. It's about the 650,000 people we have living within an hour's drive.

"There have been all sorts of comments coming out of the government - some valid and some not so informed comments - that the M9 motorway brings us closer to Dublin, but I would say that in reverse; it actually brings that 650,000 people closer to Waterford.

"The whole idea is to avoid pushing up all the traffic into Dublin but to try and free it up to the regions. It's not just about the South East or Waterford, this should be happening in all regions across the country."

Mr Bolster said he is not disappointed by the statements coming out of the government, but said he was surprised that many of the people speaking on the topic were "ill-informed or not up to date".

"There would also be a bit of annoyance on people hanging their hat on saying that the business case is not strong enough. That for me, I just cannot understand. We got one of the top four accountancy companies in the whole country, Grant Thornton, to do the business case. They spent many weeks and months doing that. Just to make sure that they had it right [...] they got an aviation expert in England Tim Jeans - who is quite famous in aviation circles - to look at it to sign off on the figures.

"The people coming out and making comments saying the business plan is not strong enough are, in one fell swoop, saying that three different councils and councillors that have to sign off on it did not know what they were talking about; the investors didn't know what they're talking about and the Airport doesn't know what they are talking about."

A glass half-full man, the primary investor laughed when recalling Minister of State James Lawless' recent controversial description of the airport as "a pig in a poke"; "speaking about that famous 'pig in a poke', I think it'll go down in history in the local area but in some ways, it was a catalyst to opening up the whole conversation."

Mr Bolster credits the public reaction to the comments with the optimistic upside from the controversy, "In fairness to Minister Lawless, it would be unusual at the best of times for a Minister to ring an investor. He rang me on a Saturday morning and we had a long chat about it. It was the power of the people in the media, and what got behind that comment and the annoyance from people there, that drove them to contact me and opened up the whole dialogue."

The discussions had begun to look positive again, William Bolster said. They had addressed the queries around land rights and passenger number forecasts privately and publicly with the Department, "Minister Lawless would now have a full understanding of the issue," William Bolster says following the discussions with the Department, "but the Senior Minister [Eamon Ryan] has no interest." 

Then last week the General Election was called. Politicians from across the aisle have met and spoken with the Airport to pledge their support for the runway extension and he feels it has "cross-party support".

"I'm a bit of a glass-half-full person anyway," William says, "so I take the positive side rather than the negative." He says he was "amazed and delighted as well with the way people in the South East area got in behind the airport."

"It's very unusual to have such positivity about one item; now it's becoming a local election issue and a national election issue in the South East in a big way. Number one, I'm calling on the government to include Waterford Airport in their programme for government. Number two, I'd be delighted if the public would keep supporting me, the airport, and the investors."

Mr Bolster is optimistic for the future with such fervent support from the South East and urged people to keep bringing up the airport on the doorstep with politicians.

"I used to say I was a very impatient person," Mr Bolster concludes, "But I actually believe I'm the most patient person ever now! But all joking aside, I have one goal, that's to deliver the airport."

"I'm going to pursue this to the very end."