Who gets the Déise’s vote?
The candidates running in the 2024 General Election in Waterford.
15 candidates will appear on the ballot paper, in alphabetical order, for the Waterford constituency as the 2024 General Election gets underway this Friday, November 29. The debates, the interviews and the canvassing are almost at an end. So the question now remains, who is best placed to serve Waterford's interests?
We have incumbents in Fianna Fáil's Minister of State Mary Butler, Sinn Féin's David Cullinane, the Green Party's Marc Ó Cathasaigh and Independent Matt Shanahan. Vying to join them in Dáil Éireann or topple them from their seat are Fine Gael Senator John Cummins, Sinn Féin Cllr Conor McGuinness, Social Democrat Cllr Mary Roche, Labour's Sadhbh O'Neill, Aontú's Dr Ronan Cleary, the Irish People party's John D Walsh, People Before Profit's Patrick Curtin, and Independents Killian Mangan, Aaron Joyce, Frank Conway and Mark O'Neill.
Mary Butler and John Cummins have argued that Waterford has not been left behind, and that significant government investment has been forthcoming for the Déise, anchoring that on the North Quays development and progress on cardiac care and South East Technological University. Others sing a different hymn, citing that it is not enough and that any investment that makes its way to Waterford follows agonising, years-long delay.
The South East Economic Monitor backs this reality up, with Waterford an outlier in terms of national regional investment - the December 2023 report showed a widening economic gap with the rest of the country.
On the key issues of cardiac care - we still don't have 24/7 cover for cardiac emergencies, despite political promises; and with regards to SETU, we have not seen infrastructural development on the Cork Road campus since the noughties, as another government comes and goes.
Waterford Airport has been a particular sticking point - €12 million in one-off investment for a solid business case denied us.
So where will change come from? The same people rising up the ladder? Is the champion Waterford needs among them? Or do our best interests lie with alternative representation, such as with Sinn Féin, the party promising change and the only party running two candidates in Waterford on this occasion?
Last time out Waterford voted overwhelmingly in favour of David Cullinane - where are the hearts and minds of those voters this time?
One thing is certain. Waterford, with a burgeoning regional city at its heart, is fed up of being carved the smallest slice of the government pie. Expectations are high of the new team in Leinster House to turn matters around.
