Mary Butler: 24/7, Waterford Airport meeting and role as Chief Whip
Mary Butler TD in the Waterford News & Star offices last week. Photo: Joe Evans
Six months on from her re-election to Dáil Eireann, Mary Butler TD discussed with the Waterford News & Star this week the status of 24/7 delivery, an upcoming meeting with the Minister for Transport regarding Waterford Airport, her role as Government Chief Whip and the advancement of the North Quays.
On retaining her role as Minister for Mental Health and taking on new responsibilities as Government Chief Whip, Minister Butler said, “I believe that was a huge accomplishment because I am the first woman ever for Waterford to be appointed to cabinet and I was also really delighted to have been reappointed Minister for Mental Health. I think it was a massive achievement for Waterford."
There was some speculation during the government formation period that Butler may have been handed a Senior Ministerial role.
Constituents have since expressed concerns that Waterford still remains without any Senior Minister, fearing this could delay or hinder the delivery of key projects for the city and county.
Minister Butler defended her role, however, saying, “When I was appointed at the start people were saying because she's a Super Junior Minister she doesn't have a voice, but I do have a voice.
“As Chief Whip, every single minister in the Dáil, along with the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste, come through my office if they wish to travel anywhere. So I interact with every Minister on a daily basis. That gives me huge capital when I am looking to deliver for Waterford.
“There's a huge amount of work that's involved in the Whip’s office that people don't realise and I have a lot of power from that perspective.”
In the almost three months since Cabinet approval for the implementation of 24/7 cardiac care was announced for University Hospital Waterford, there has been little information released about when the service will actually be operational.
Minister Butler said last week that there are currently four and a half consultants working and seven are needed to deliver a 24/7 service.
She provide a timeline of six months for this staffing process to be complete.
“The €629,000 has been allocated, recruitment is underway," she said.
"We are confident that we will get the right calibre of clinician to come because we have the best facility in Ireland now. I’ve been told that clinicians are interested in coming to Waterford."
A photograph of Minister Butler outside UHW with Micheal Martin has been frequently referenced in the nine years since it was taken.
With every passing year, it seems to carry even more significance, and local cardiac campaign groups have been using it as a symbol to illustrate the promise for 24/7 that still remains unfulfilled.
When asked if she expected delivery to take this long, Minister Butler said: “I probably didn't and that was probably a little bit of naivety. There is this perception out there that when you want a service it can happen overnight, but it can't.
“That photo is there. It reminds me every day of the week that I made a commitment and that Fianna Fáíl made a commitment."
When asked what she would say to locals who remain concerned about 24/7 still not fully delivered, Butler said, "These services take a long time to develop and they take budgets. It's no different in other hospitals when you're trying to build a new service from scratch. I'm just thankful that we're almost there."
Minister Butler also said she stands over the work she has done for 24/7 delivery in the nine years since her election to Dáil Eireann.
“I have worked tirelessly since 2016 on this. Being in the Department of Health means that every day of the week I have had the opportunity to keep banging the drum.
"I would hope that people would recognise that I have fought as hard as other people to deliver this. You have to build the service incrementally. It cannot happen overnight. We're almost there, we're not there yet, but we will get there.
"We're at 12 to 12 at the moment, seven days a week. That was a massive push. That could only have happened through the second Cath lab, which ended up costing €7.3 million.
"I played a huge part in delivering that. I stand over that all day long."
Whilst voicing her support for Waterford Airport, Minister Butler also acknowledged the difficulties that public representatives have faced in making the case for its runway extension.
“It has been very difficult to get the aviation sector in the Department of Transport to see the same vision of that we have,” she said.
Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary has previously described those seeking Government funding for the extension of the runway at Waterford Airport as "local lunatics" and said that Waterford Airport has "no commercial or economic future".
Regarding the airport's financial viability, Minister Butler said, “Those concerns have been raised. I'm not an aviation expert, but what I do realise is that it's very important to have connectivity for the South East.
"There has been concerns raised about the privatisation of the airport. So I believe the Council has a huge role to play in this, otherwise the airport is very much a private entity.”
This Wednesday, a meeting is due to take place regarding the airport's future.
It is understood that attending will be Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien, alongside the Secretary General of his Department, Council Chief Executive Sean McKeown, the Head of Aviation from the Department of Transport, and Ministers Cummins and Butler.
The basis of the meeting is to form "a clear pathway to get this over the line”, Minister Butler said.
“I think this should be a positive meeting. It's in-person, it's around the table and I'm hoping that we'll be able to chart a pathway forward to deliver the runway."
This meeting comes in the aftermath of mounting frustrations within City Hall concerning a letter sent by former Mayor of Waterford Cllr Jason Murphy on behalf of Waterford Council requesting “an urgent meeting” with Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien.
The letter remained unanswered for months.
In what would be his final act as Mayor of City and County, Jason Murphy sent another letter to the Minister’s office last week.
Minister Butler said that she has raised with Minister O’Brien that the Council were awaiting response.
“I would have a zero tolerance in my own Department for no response. We'd give even a holding response in relation to correspondence,” she said.
“But Darragh O’Brien is supportive of Waterford Airport, we just have to find a pathway to do it and obviously that’s an awful lot of the work, so I am looking forward to the meeting on Wednesday.”
Last week, contracts were signed for five additional buildings located across SETU’s regional campuses.
In Waterford, the contract signing opens the door for construction commencement of the long-awaited engineering building.
Plans for the development of the building go back as far as 2007. Planning reports state that "major black swan events" have led to multiple disruptions to its development, including the economic downturn in the late 2000s and the Covid-19 pandemic.
“It has taken a long time, it has been frustratingly slow, there has been ups and downs, but we have lift off now,” Butler said.
“This is a fantastic investment of €380 million into five university buildings, with the largest one of all coming to Waterford.”
Speaking on the North Quays, Minister Butler said that she believes that the development will strengthen Waterford's core city centre and attract increased retail offerings.
"This the biggest investment outside of Dublin anywhere in the country for a capital project, I think people forget that. You drive around Waterford now and you see cranes. We weren't seeing that prior to 2020.
“I do believe we need this investment in relation to Waterford City because we're not where we need to be in relation to the retail offering.”
