Phoenix: 1+1 not equal to 1?

Even if math is not your strong point, you will understand why, despite the protestations of our Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael TDs, the question is being widely asked in Waterford. Is one junior minister plus one junior minister equal to one senior minister? 

The appalling government debacle over co-funding a runway extension at Waterford Airport gives real-world proof of the problem. The airport case has been made and made again and again and again…! 

Being dragged through the mud and forced to jump hurdles invented by the Ministry of Funny Jumps is not at all funny to the people of this city and region, who are trying to increase regional access and connectivity. 

Minister Butler is pro tem, a super junior with permission to attend cabinet meetings. Her tenure depends on the outcome of the current Supreme Court hearing on the latter issue. (I believe the chief whip should ex-officio attend, but that’s another day’s work!) 

Had she a vote at cabinet, it is odds on that the airport extension would have been inked in months ago. A vote gives you something to trade for other ministers’ support. It is too early to judge Minister John Cummins efforts as he is a first-time TD. His dogged record in defending Fine Gael against comment in the run-up to the general election tends to label him as a party animal first and last. Time will tell. 

The real question is how much weight in government do our two junior ministers hold and will they deliver on the airport extension?

Minister Mary Butler has been a TD since 2016 and a prominent minister of state since July 2020. The minister already claims delivery of a new UHW surgical hub and the commencement of a long-awaited engineering building at SETU. These decisions were baked into the last administration's Programme for Government, but current political reality for Ms Butler now intrudes in the form of Waterford Airport. 

She must now decide whether she is to be a politician of consequence, like Mary O’Rourke or Martin Cullen, or a quiescent lap dog of the party hierarchy. 

The recent, disgraceful meeting about the airport when all were excluded except the Minister for Transport, Darragh O’Brien, his Secretary General Ken Spratt and head of aviation section Ethna Brogan, Waterford Council CEO Sean McKeown and some other officials, is redolent of other occasions when Waterford interests were called to Dublin to be hectored in no uncertain terms and dismissed. 

The cheek of us, having aspirations! 

Just remember what happened to Dr Rob Landers and Dr Paddy Owens when they went to Dublin about 24/7 cardiology, or the despicable treatment that Dr Kieran Byrne, a visionary academic, received for his efforts to promote WIT as a university.

Minister Butler has form in putting party before her own people. Locals have not forgotten how, post election 2016, she immediately caved in to the importuning of her party colleague Bobby Aylward in Carlow/Kilkenny by refusing to back the recommendation of the Boundary Commission for a small extension of the boundary of Waterford City back into what was, for hundreds of years, the northern Liberties of the City of Waterford. 

Instances of TDs not backing the interests of their own constituencies are very rare indeed. The real-life ramifications of that decision are now becoming apparent as Dunnes Stores have applied to open a very large store in the Ferrybank Shopping Centre. The centre has been aptly described as the worst example of predatory planning in Ireland, being a mere 10 feet from the Waterford city boundary. 

Should it be allowed to proceed by Kilkenny planners, the impact on already fragile retail in Waterford City’s historic centre will be severe.

Post-election 2024, Ms Butler, the favourite to be appointed as Minister for Children, allowed herself to be bumped out of that by Minister for Cork, Micheál Martin, into the fairly toothless office of government chief whip. Loyalty to Micheál Martin and Fianna Fáil trumped political power. Before the election Minister Butler informed us that the airport extension needed a new minister (other than Green Eamon Ryan) to make the pro-Waterford decision. Now we have a new government, a Fianna Fáil Taoiseach, a Fianna Fáil Minister for Transport and Ms Butler, a Fianna Fáil TD as government chief whip, and are still unable to secure a positive decision on co-funding Waterford Airport runway extension. 

The money involved is risible, even if inflated by rising construction costs, but the dead hand of permanent government is determined to kill us off. 

One might paraphrase George Bernard Shaw in saying that making one bad decision, as in the boundary extension, is unfortunate. 

Making two bad decisions, as in boundary extension and failure to insist on the full ministerial office Waterford so obviously needed, is careless. To allow a third bad decision to be made, as in a failure to fund the airport in accordance with the Programme for Government, suggests an absence of influence, or lack of political competence. The airport will determine how Ms Butler is viewed for the remainder of this government’s term.

In general, the last decade and a half has seen a huge fight for resources for Waterford. For example, Waterford Port is designated as a Tier 2 National Port with Rosslare. Waterford handles 2.2 million tons of cargo and Rosslare handles 3.4 million tons. A €200 million development is now proposed for Rosslare on top of a €170 million development already in progress, even though Stena Line is pulling out of Rosslare this autumn and Dublin, Foynes and Cork (Tier 1 Ports) are massively upping their development. 

€100 million was lobbed by the Dept. of Transport at Cork Port last year, but not a cent is available to develop extra quay space at Waterford Port, even though demand regularly exceeds available space. 

Often when considering the problems of development at SETU, UHW, FDI, Waterford Airport and Port of Waterford, one begins to think that there is an organised presumption against development in this part of the world. The fight for resources and investment is perpetual and must be driven by our government TDs. The days of accepting doled-out crumbs are over. Hopefully M/s Cummins and Butler appreciate that.