Phoenix: Gather ye rosebuds!

The old adage, seize the opportunity to act while you can, should be emblazoned on Waterford’s coat of arms. Some people prefer the “carpe diem” expression, which means the same thing. In any event, it particularly applies to our elected representatives. 

They come, go, succeed, fail, make an impression, or just disappear into the background. Is Waterford one of the most volatile constituencies in the country? 

The range and variety of local reps we have had over the life of this column suggests as much. We elect them and discard them. There is a broad dissatisfaction with how the city is treated by government and, latterly, an understanding that ministerial representation at the cabinet table, as with Martin Cullen, is the only way to get a fair share of what’s going.

We have gone from the naïve belief, fostered by politicians, that if we were entitled as a city to some government investment that it would surely arrive, to the understanding of political patronage. If investment did not arrive, so goes the circular argument used to confuse the peasantry, then we were not entitled to it or had failed to qualify, filled out the wrong form, applied too late, funding was all allocated, business case was incomplete, procurement rules weren’t followed, or some such political scutter. 

Historically, we elected people who made no impression inside or outside the Dáil and we paid the price. As for raising Waterford issues in the Dáil? Couldn’t be doing that now, could we? In the last Dáil, Matt Shanahan had the word Waterford on government lips almost daily in questions to government leaders. Maybe he got nothing for his pains, but at least we and they knew the score. We didn’t want that either, as we retreated to the toxic silence of the party vote and neutralized ourselves again with a two-all election. Two for government, two against, amid recollections of electing a TD for decades, who allegedly never spoke in the Dáil at all! We suffer on.

Climbing the greasy political pole is difficult. If you manage it, you must grab stuff with both hands. All political careers end in failure anyway. Time at the top is short, so grab every cent of constituency funding you can, before the inevitable ballot box failure. 

This Cassandra-like warning applies most particularly to Waterford TD and government chief whip, Mary Butler, who has found herself in attendance at cabinet meetings but thus far seems unable to fully exploit her position and deliver on the Waterford agenda. 

Government’s failure to grant €12 million in matching funding to develop our airport was an unforgiveable, political insult, calculated to undermine regional access. The North Quays, the UHW surgical hub, the SETU Engineering building all belong to the last government. These developments are welcome, but given the huge sums available to government, do they really represent an adequate share of what’s going? 

Government spending data, extensively analysed by SETU academics in the South East Economic Monitor (SEEM) report, provide a resounding no! The National Development Plan (NDP) review has elicited sectoral plans for the next five years, from every government department. Those that particularly affect Waterford city are in health and education, yet given the perpetual struggle we have had to extract investment from government, who knows how secure promised investment actually will be? Who knows what threats in the local, national or international business climate may derail our best laid plans? 

Remember, proposed new engineering and business schools were on the stocks here in 2009 in a ready-to-go PPP. It was cancelled in 2011. 15 years later, they’re only now under construction. Experientia docuit as they say in Latin. Experience has taught us!

James Lawless, Minister for Further Education, was in town last week to remind us that SETU has a great future. And so say all of us. Minister John Cummins captured the moment, saying: “The progression of this One Health building is a real statement of intent by Government in the direction of travel that we want SETU to take. Today’s good news follows the approval for a design team to be appointed for the veterinary medicine building in recent weeks. Together, these developments mark another significant milestone in advancing SETU’s expansion and strengthening its long-term impact on our community.” 

It’s great to hear these announcements, although I fear that we are being chained to the government’s infrastructure delivery process, with its interminable political “PR announcements” at every stage, without any firm indication of when construction will start. Waterford and SETU need urgent, rapid, transformative, third-level investment to repair the damage of 20 years without any. We need exceptional treatment to recover lost ground.

The challenges facing Minister Mary Butler seem greater. Her mentor Micheál Martin is unlikely to last long after the end of the 2026 presidency of the EU as Taoiseach and Fianna Fáil leader. There is no guarantee that a new leader will prolong Ms Butler’s ministerial tenure. She offers hostages to fortune by allowing Waterford HSE development proposals to be long fingered. 

I now understand that UHW’s Vertical Out Patients Department project, which received planning in 2022, has been cancelled. A replacement proposal to develop an urgently required new bed block, as indicated in the National Acute Inpatient Bed Capacity Plan, is under consideration since 2024. Already a year behind schedule, it is delayed for lack of funding. 

UHW currently has no large development project with planning permission, or at tender stage, ready to go. This is a dangerous lacuna. The e-tenders website is crammed with development proposals for hospitals across the country, but none here. Any new UHW proposal will require minimum a year before construction might start. 

We will have more of the endless multi-stage announcements at every step in the impenetrable HSE delivery process. UHW’s experience with small-scale developments (mortuary anyone?) makes us very nervous when it comes to the political battle for precedence and funding. Surgical hubs are external to normal provision and being added to all Model 4 hospitals, meaning UHW is still the country’s least resourced one of them. It needs exceptional investment across all metrics to catch up. What is Ms Butler doing to secure that?