Minister's ‘pig in a poke’ comment betrays long-running departmental antipathy to Waterford Airport
'The fact that Minister Lawless was comparing 40-seater turboprop activity from a decade ago as an indicator of possible future demand should be a key worry for any uninvolved observer.'
The comments of Transport Minister of State James Lawless in Dáil debate with me last week regarding Waterford Airport expansion betrayed a long-running departmental antipathy to Waterford Airport and a lack of political vision on behalf of Government in my opinion.
I have some sympathy for Minister Lawless. As I said in my debate introduction, I recognise the ‘hospital pass’ given to him by Minister Eamon Ryan. The senior minister has decided to wash his hands regarding issues of aviation but continues to obfuscate in his department around any activity that he perceives could increase national emissions in the sector – this includes his reluctance to allow any discussion of Waterford Airport to be brought before cabinet.
The Green Party leadership having surveyed the damage done in the Waterford local elections would have been well advised to ask Eamon Ryan to vacate his Transport brief in light of his decision not to contest the next election - this was the standard adopted by other parties building for the future. It could be that new Green Party Leader Roderic O’Gorman, who conversely has stated his support for Waterford Airport development, did not feel he could talk ‘Eamon’ around from continuing to further burnish his green credentials at the expense of expanding aviation activity in Dublin and Waterford.
The history of Waterford Airport is one of incredible resilience in the face of what has been a position of indifference and often antipathy by Department Transport officials. The contemporary history of Waterford Airport's access to state subvention is illuminating, to say the least. Despite having multiple carriers service flights in and out of Waterford over two decades, and these include Ryanair, Aer Arann, and Flybe, the Department of Transport never contributed a single cent of funding by way of PSO’s, (public service obligations) to underwrite the cost of those services - this now appears a future possibility, according to the comments from Minister Lawless, but only for a turbo prop service? This doesn’t speak to any ambition to grow the Waterford business footprint.
In late 2017 Transport Minister Shane Ross, pressured by Waterford Minister John Halligan, agreed to annual costs' support or ‘stop-gap funding’ of €350,000 per annum to Waterford Airport because of no passenger flights due to the airport not entering new carrier contracts. Such contracts could not be sustained in the event of runway closure for new design work, which was the stated ambition for the future sustainable development of the airport.
This subsistence ‘stopgap’ funding was removed in 2020 after only two years of payment! This was blamed by Department officials on the time taken to secure a new planning application. This too was a red herring in my opinion, given such an application could not be progressed until adjoining lands under purchase negotiation had been fully completed.
In 2020 with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic the Irish Government availed of European support monies to provide business support of €180 million to the Irish aviation and regional airport sector – again Waterford Airport did not receive a single cent from this funding, the rationale being they were not servicing passenger flights. In fact recent parliamentary responses I have received outline €488 million spent by Government in this 33rd Dáil to support regional aviation – within that funding envelope Waterford Airport has not received a penny in support funding, outside that required to service the Search and Rescue Helicopter base.
The evidence of department interference does not end there. In 2022 the first tender provision sought for a new national search and air rescue contract by the department indicated a three-helicopter based network would be considered. I raised this issue publicly given my understanding that it was the Waterford R117 base, which was being targeted for downgrade - the political furore that developed created a climb down and resulted in the Waterford base being contractually secured in the latest 10-year contract agreement.
We have much that we can point to in Waterford and the South East region that details the consistent and significant underinvestment this county and region has suffered in the last number of programmes for Government. The underinvestment in capital infrastructure, which is needed to ultimately drive the economic development of the region, is the most egregious aspect with respect to state planning - the sense that this might be possibly department lead is even more worrying.
Politicians and political parties are responsible to ensure policy setting is fair-minded and grounded in key data analysis and strategic planning with a forward-looking perspective. The fact that Minister Lawless was comparing 40-seater turboprop activity from a decade ago as an indicator of possible future demand should be a key worry for any uninvolved observer.
Add to this the idea that higher level civil servants feel they have more commercial acumen than investors, who have created businesses worth hundreds of millions of euros, companies which support thousands of family jobs and deliver hundreds of millions in taxes, is a disturbing commentary on exactly who, in our state, should have the right to gift state investment.
The South East region has been performing sub-par for many years - the single biggest deficiency has been a lack of strategic state investment across a range of sectors but not least the transport sector.
The fact that we live on an island should be a spur to creating international connectivity. The fact that our national aviation policy centred on Dublin has already become a limiting factor in future national economic development should be a concern. When these realities are married to understanding that Department of Transport seniors and their political leadership cannot demonstrate the courage or foresight to approve an additional €7 million grant to deliver a runway extension at Waterford Airport, delivering benefit across the entire South East region, then we absolutely have a problem - a problem magnified by the €45 billion capital expenditure by Government since 2020 across the country.
The continuing cavalier attitude of Government and the Department of Transport to risk the private investor commitment of multi-million investment in Waterford and the South East should come at significant personal cost - the question is to whom?
Is it just politicians who should pay a price or should civil service officials be identified for blame? If this proposed venture fails because the private sector investors walk away, an exacting political price will be paid, and even a ‘pig in a poke’ won’t miss it!
