Phoenix: A Taoiseach calls

On Monday next, March 23, Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Minister Butler and the Fianna Fáil faithful will gather in the Granville Hotel. It is a certainty that the start date for 24/7 cardiology at UHW will be announced. After the shameful airport debacle, where the full power of government was deployed to stop a tiny development, anything else would be politically impossible. There has to be “good news”. 

That being said, after more than 10 years of hard slog, when the people of Waterford burst a gut to get what should have been freely given in 2016, it will be a great day for us all when 24/7 starts. 

A wrong will be righted and a huge step taken towards UHW being politically and publicly acknowledged as the nationally important Model 4 hospital it is. 

A recent article by the health correspondent of The Irish Times, the paper of record, which referred to UHW as Waterford General Hospital, even when the HSE supplied a spreadsheet listing the expenditure named it Waterford Regional Hospital, tells you all you need to know about the blinkered view from our bloated capital.

From the correspondence about the airport uncovered by our reporter Alex Cunningham, the visceral opposition to Waterford Airport is clearly obvious. The files of An Coimisiún Pleanála show that the Dublin Airport Authority was a trenchant objector to our airport development. 

Given the huge size of Dublin Airport versus the tiny Waterford Airport you have to ask what was the logic of the DAA opposition? 

DAA owns Cork Airport and took its almost €200 million debt onto its books. All follows from that. 

In truth, as with 24/7 cardiology, the development of our university, and the tiny share of IDA-supported industry in this area, it all relates to Cork influence. 

The late, great Nicky Fewer held that view as an act of faith. Nothing we do in Waterford could possibly ever discommode Dublin, be it hospital, university, FDI, port or whatever. The Dublin “system”, as referenced in the health article above, is hardly even aware of us. 

Given the massive state investment in Cork over the past couple of decades, a somewhat similar view is held on Leeside. We can hardly affect them on anything either, but hegemonic aspirations allied to hubris, means taking no chances. Our little airport just might slightly discommode the ambitions of others.

An interesting Irish Times article by Gordon Deegan last week about the pharma firm Amgen is of much local interest. The company has applied to build a six-storey car park at its site in south Dublin for an additional 1,087 car parking spaces as it moves to increase its employee numbers on that site from 1,816 to 2,544 and to 2,888 by 2035. Opposition from local residents has forced South Dublin County Council to seek further information on the planned development. 

Readers will be aware that Amgen bought the firm Horizon, which had a plant on the IDA Tech Park at Whitfield. Horizon had major expansion plans at the time, with planning permission for a large extension. That has been abandoned and the small and hugely efficient Horizon Plant was renamed Amgen. It is, shamefully, to close this year with the winddown starting next month and its 100 highly skilled employees possibly transferring to the south Dublin site. 

One can never predict an outcome with corporate merger/purchases and management desire to concentrate staff on a single site, but the damage to our aspirations is severe given the limited level of FDI in this area. 

That situation did not arise yesterday. It has to be drummed into people’s heads here that we have not had a fair crack of the whip. Despite what any of our TDs say…and the Taoiseach is likely to give us glowing testimonials on his visit…we have been shabbily treated. 

The South East Economic Monitor (SEEM) report 2025 says, “The South East saw modest growth of 2%, increasing its share of national IDA-supported jobs to 5.4%. Over the past five years, IDA-supported jobs in the region have grown by 11.5% - the second-lowest rate in the country - compared to 16% nationally. Within the region, IDA job growth has been uneven: Carlow and Wexford remain static; Kilkenny has seen a significant uplift (likely due to Abbott); and Waterford has declined.” 

Micheál Martin please note!

During the Taoiseach’s visit we will be regaled with details of the “huge“ investments in the North Quays and other areas. Ask yourself if they make up for decades of underinvestment, especially in areas like WIT/SETU, which are critical in attracting new industry? Even our name was scrubbed off signage there. 

The prevailing Waterford business wisdom is that the grotesque, politically driven failure to invest anything in new buildings or new courses at WIT over two decades, while legacy universities and favoured institutes of technology had money hosed at them, did critical damage to Waterford’s third-level education reputation and our ability to compete for FDI. One billion Euro was invested in DIT/TU Dublin, while WIT suffered leaky roofs and outdated infrastructure. We were static while others galloped ahead. 

One contract for a new engineering building does not make up for that. John Cummins please note!

It will be interesting to see just what Taoiseach Martin has to say on the day. 

SETU Waterford was crippled for nearly two decades and badly needs funding to make up the lost ground. The Taoiseach loves Cork, and why not, but he is not the Taoiseach for Cork, he is Taoiseach for all the country. 

The SEEM report explicitly shows that Waterford has been poorly treated across nearly all metrics of government funding. It’s beyond time for appropriate funding to come in this direction. While comparisons with Dublin are nonsense and those with Cork are borderline fantasy, our city has visibly lost ground on its peers. Mary Butler please note!

Any attempt at Taoiseach or ministerial “waffle” should be ridiculed. Remember the systemic opposition and failure to fund our airport. It offers hope for a connected future. I, for one, am sick of looking from afar at the level of investment and prosperity that has driven the other cities of Ireland far beyond Waterford, the oldest city in the land.