Phoenix: A terrible vista!

The Dáil debate on health of April 21 last between David Cullinane and Minister Mary Butler should be read by everyone in Waterford. Mr Cullinane pressed for an update on various local health projects and especially on the long-promised new adult Mental Health Unit (AMHU) at UHW, saying there was much frustration locally and that he had been criticised in the local press (presumably meaning here) on the matter. 

It’s been on the go for nearly a decade. The reply from Ms Butler was an exercise in weasel words. 

“The frustration that many people feel, I have felt as well. When it was announced initially in 2020 or 2021, we were in the middle of COVID. It was then held up for three years by the clinicians.” 

Twice, Ms Butler blamed consultants and clinicians at UHW for project delay. It is my clear understanding that neither group is involved and are barely consulted on capital projects, nor are they members of the project or design teams. That being so, it is outrageous that Ms Butler blames a group of people who are normally prohibited from public comment for her own patent inability to get vital Waterford and UHW projects across the line. David Cullinane should have gone for broke and called out Ms Butler in the Dáil. And, before anyone mentions the new UHW surgical hub, it is again my clear understanding that this was an initiative of top management at the Department of Health who deliberately bypassed HSE procedures and political interference. It is instructive that Ms Butler was at the sod turning ceremony for the project when it was actually underway.

Minister Butler confirmed: “The AMHU design team will be appointed very shortly… and we’ll finally make progress. The funding has been provided. I have allocated over €40 million for capital projects this year, including for the next stages for the AMHU at Waterford.” 

Details from the 2026 HSE Capital Plan show that a paltry €140,350 has been allocated towards a building reputedly costing €50 million (Ms Butler’s estimate). With architect’s project fees alone costing 15%, how far will that money stretch? It won’t buy pencils and drafting paper. No time-line or commencement date has been provided. 

Minister Butler announced €100,000 funding in 2020 and 2021 for this project. It went nowhere. In the Dáil debate Minister Butler states that COVID delayed the project. It didn’t stop a €100 million 10-storey building at The Mater hospital or a huge extension at St Luke’s Kilkenny, both built under a COVID derogation from planning. But then, a tent was acceptable outside UHW ED until word got to Dublin. Perhaps Ms Butler could, for clarity, list all the Model 4 hospital EDs which had tents during COVID?

A proposed new “Vertical Overhang Out Patients Department”, as the minister called it, has been kicked to touch by government. Ms Butler now blames clinicians for the delay. The absurdity of suggesting that the new consultants' contract has anything to do with this is risible. We are entering Donald Trump territory. It was ready to go in February 2022 when local Oireachtas members were told it was being priced by a contractor on site. Instead, planning permission was sought in July 2022 and Minister Butler announced it in July 2024 as a vital project for UHW. It even got into the 2025 HSE Capital Plan, but then disappeared. UHW got two tin, modular prefabs instead. 

The minister has given no time-line for the completion of this facility, nor indeed said if it will go ahead at all. Now you see it, now you don’t!

24/7 cardiology is apparently commencing in July 2026. I now believe that this long overdue service is being put in place because our Taoiseach, a cute Cork man, was fortuitously captured in that famous photo outside UHW, promising it. His term as Taoiseach will end next year, but he is the kind of man who would not want this left hanging. He publicly promised, so it will happen. 

The big worry is that Ms Butler has also publicly stated (23rd March 2026) that she cannot reveal the staff complement - ”I don’t have permission to say (staff numbers) at the moment” - that will deliver the service. It’s a secret if you don’t mind! You can be sure, though, if the service is threatened or closed for any reason, as it was in Beaumont, that Ms Butler will be quick to point the finger.

When pressed further by David Cullinane on a promised new bed block and new multi-storey car park at UHW. Ms Butler replied: “The question the Deputy asked was about the HSE capital plan for Waterford and the south east in relation to mental health and mental health beds. I can speak to that. In relation to the other issues the Deputy mentioned, I do not have the relevant information but I discussed it when I had the meeting with HSE estates. On the two-storey vertical extension, the vertical overhang as it is called, my understanding is that the management at the hospital has made a different decision in relation to that and thinks that it should be a stand-alone building on the hospital grounds. I understand the new consultant-only contract is the reason for that.” 

It’s management’s fault, blaming people who cannot publicly defend themselves. 

“I do not have the relevant information”... this is a Waterford TD replying to another Waterford TD on Waterford issues… ”but I discussed the matter with HSE estates.” Orwellian doublethink. The vital new bed block was ready to go with all essential design and engineering work completed. It has been blatantly shunted by a Fine Gael minister into an uncertain future. 

The need for a new multi-storey car park is so obvious as to defy comment. A self-financing project and even that can’t be delivered. We now have no time lines for either the bed block or the car park. A bitter blow to UHW!

There is currently no planning permission or tender pending for any Waterford project in the vital FDI/IDA, port, airport, health, third-level education, road or rail sectors. Does Minister Butler understand the huge economic ramification of this for the local economy? Would someone in the moribund local Fianna Fáil organisation ask?