Phoenix: Waterford’s reality is that the Programme for Government is a politically expedient buffet

The negotiations for government, which brought the regional independents group into the frame, must have given anyone who thinks about the future of Waterford a pause for thought. They secured two super junior ministries and two junior ministries. 

The Healy Rae brothers secured a junior ministry. That’s five positions. The Regional Independents has two super juniors from Galway! 

One can only look back at the election and suggest, all politics aside, that Waterford made a strategic error in voting. 

People here are always seeking someone with influence, a Healy Rae-like figure, to push the local agenda. The majority must have known that the new government would be Fianna Fáil with Fine Gael plus a mudguard of some kind. 

Matt Shanahan pushed the local agenda for 10 years both inside and outside Dáil Éireann. Had he been reelected, it is certain in my view anyway that he would have had a super junior position to attend cabinet. 

Instead, in protesting against perceived and real neglect, we opted for two Sinn Féin TDs. Quite what that will deliver for us is anyone’s guess.

David Cullinane was first elected in 2011 and is on the back benches ever since. Has his party been able to influence any government decision? Should the new government last five years, he will have been a back bencher for almost 20 dispiriting years. 

In the past five years many Waterford people noticed and commented on social media that David rarely mentioned Waterford in any capacity. This reached its zenith when SF election posters failed to mention investment or the lack of it at SETU. More was expected from someone who received 20,000 first preference votes in 2020. 

Anyway, it's water under the bridge. Deputies Cullinane and McGuinness must sit it out on the back benches. David Cullinane did voice his strong views on the new Programme for Government with Damien Tiernan on WLR FM last Thursday, saying that there is no mention of 24/7 cardiology for Waterford or timelines for new roads to Limerick and Cork and so on. He was quickly shot down by John Cummins (FG) and Mary Butler (FF) who dismissed accusations of vagueness and lack of mention of Waterford in the PFG as simply being the nature of the actual document, saying that mentioning everything that every constituency might want would create a huge and unwieldy document. You can make your own mind up about that. It’s vague!

Waterford Airport is specifically mentioned. “Government will work with all stakeholders to quickly progress the Waterford Airport project to lengthen and widen the runway, building on the previous Government 2019 commitments.” That does sound hopeful.

24/7 cardiology for UHW is not mentioned. Ms Butler suggested the vague statement, “Building on the existing National Cardiovascular Policy, we will develop a new and more ambitious plan enhancing patient care and timely access across all regions,” should see us all right. 

Many people are not so sanguine. 

Too often, government policy documents have been interpreted against us, not least on 24/7 cardiology. Several announcements by Ms Butler of 8am to 8pm seven-day cardiology at UHW have proven fruitless. The PFG document also references hospital beds, saying government would, “Increase capacity by between 4,000 and 4,500 new and refurbished inpatient hospital beds across the country.” 

Everyone knows that UHW urgently needs more beds and is still the country’s most under-resourced and understaffed Model 4 hospital. Last week, the HSE published its National Service Plan for 2025. It commits to 297 new hospital beds across 17 hospitals, including 14 in Kilkenny. There are none for UHW. 

It’s all very well to believe the new surgical hub at UHW is the panacea for everything our hospital needs, but it is not. Remember back in 2022 that a vitally important, “vertical Out Patients Department”, over the main hospital, was discussed between hospital management and local Oireachtas members, who were informed it was ready to go under a Covid derogation, which meant planning permission was not required. Construction did not start although major developments in the Mater, St Luke’s Kilkenny and elsewhere were completed. 

UHW was left with two prosaic OPD and ED prefab units and a portable building. 

Ms Butler seems to have believed our tin modular prefabs (language is so important) were equivalent to the modular buildings built elsewhere, which of course they are not. But then, we were the only Model 4 hospital to have a freezing cold triage tent erected outside its ED during Covid! 

The vertical OPD extension has planning permission since July 2022. There are no signs of progress. Another long finger job?

Three previous PFGs were specific about SETU development. Now we must hope that we are included in catchall plans to “Develop a multi-annual plan to urgently deliver new student accommodation, including through state-financed, purpose-built student accommodation on public or private lands and enable Technological Universities to borrow funds to provide for on-campus student accommodation.” 

There is a commitment to “develop a borrowing framework for the TU sector to enable them to access funding” and to “introduce new academic career paths, contracts and professorships”. There are no timelines. 

Should these aspirations happen, they would help create a level playing field between the TUs and traditional universities. 

Fine Gael doesn’t like to acknowledge the damage done to WIT and Waterford during the almost two decade long failure to build any new teaching facility there. Some in FG even have the brass neck to dispute that reality, which is there for all to see. 

Even now, with the new engineering block signed off by government before Christmas, we have no indication when building work will start.

Waterford’s reality is that the Programme for Government is a politically expedient buffet. A list of possibilities, with a world of difference between studying/ exploring/ investigating and action! The language is loose and anything can be justified when the need arises. 

Progress will realistically only be made if Waterford is represented at the cabinet table by a senior minister. Ms Butler seems to be in the frame for that as John Cummins is dismissed as too junior for elevation at this stage? Everyone wishes both of them well for Waterford’s sake. If neither makes it to the top…?