Phoenix: What next?

Apolitical delivery of state projects does not exist in Ireland. That means, from department to department that a list of projects, ranked in order of priority for delivery, might exist. 

The permanent government, i.e. the civil service, will have prioritised various developments. Invariably, though, the delivery of any project depends on the political will of the minister in charge, on his/her priorities. 

The result of that system is that a small city and county like Waterford, with only four TDs, must fight for everything it wants from government. 

Having a cabinet minister to fight your corner is essential and even then, as happened when Martin Cullen brought a proposal for an independent university in Waterford to cabinet in 2007, a project which impinges on the constituency priorities of another minister or ministers, may not find sufficient support to pass.

In recent weeks, Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill brought the proposal to provide 24/7 cardiology at UHW to cabinet and it was agreed. Similarly, Minister for Further Education James Lawless brought the proposal to build a new engineering building at SETU Waterford to cabinet and that was agreed. 

Both are new to cabinet and they deserve our thanks for what they have done. 

It’s worth repeating that the 24/7 cardiology campaign was waged for more than a dozen years and the engineering building was first proposed circa 2007. Any further delay in either project would have been grotesque as the inequity involved has been patently visible, in both cases, for many years. 

Even so, both projects require significant expenditure and had to be fought for. The moral of the story is that perseverance and resilience are required to bring projects over the line, most especially in Waterford.

Last week, Waterford Airport stakeholders met the Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien (it was a Fianna Fáil ambush without any local councillors in attendance) in an attempt to bring the airport runway extension to fruition. 

The delays, obfuscation and obstacles placed by the upper echelons of civil service staff in that department to the project are the stuff of legend. The same civil servants have hardly covered themselves in glory in the negotiation of a new coastguard helicopter service, where the existing provider of that service is to be replaced with helicopters of shorter range, lower capacity and shorter time on scene of an emergency. This seems to have escaped the Sir Humphreys notice when the tender service document was being drawn up. 

Remember the “persuasive “arguments floated in the national news media against the provision of 24/7 cardiology in UHW? The desks of senior HSE management in the Cork South South-West Hospital Group were the graveyards for many Waterford projects. 

Poisonous politics and personal interests can derail even the most worthy of projects in this country. 

In general, the airport project is a tiny expenditure to co-fund with private interests the delivery of a jet-suitable runway. It has again been kicked to touch with a request for yet another business case to justify the expenditure. 

In the words beloved of those kicking the can, we will have another review! That review will take at least a year. For our two Ministers of State, Cummins and Butler, agreeing to this is a political betrayal by all parties of election promises. Just wait for the excuses about state money and procurement procedures. We should be sick of it. 

Meanwhile, the main opposition party, Sinn Féin, is unwilling, as evidenced by David Cullinane’s recent testy exchange with Damien Tiernan on WLR FM, to bring a motion to the Dáil on the project.

Meanwhile, when you consider that the Clontarf to Dublin City Centre project, which delivered segregated cycling facilities and bus priority infrastructure along a 2.7km route, cost €68 million, you just might begin to wonder about equity in public expenditure in this country. But then, Dublin is in effect a foreign country. Different rules apply there. €1 billion was spent on new buildings at TU Dublin in a city with five other universities, while SETU/WIT waited 20 years for a new building.

The fight for the airport will go on and must be won. We have had two wins, 24/7 cardiology and the engineering building. The airport is a work in progress. 

The issue of what happens next with other projects affecting Waterford must be tackled. SETU bought 20 acres of land behind the new Glassworks building for €4 million to facilitate further expansion. New courses in veterinary medicine and pharmacy were announced for Waterford to underpin the status of the new university and are to be housed in a proposed new “Health 1” building behind the Glassworks. 

A business case for this building has been with the Department of Further Education for over a year. Given the 20-year lacuna (2005-2025) in the provision of new SETU teaching buildings in Waterford, will the go ahead for the new Health 1 building be given without delay? For comparison, work on a huge new UCC business school in Cork city centre, accommodating 4,500 students, received planning in May 2023 and will start construction in early 2026.

The achievement of 24/7 cardiology, albeit still awaiting appropriate staff recruitment, plus the development of the new surgical hub building in Maypark Lane focuses the attention on the future development of UHW. 

Planning was granted in 2022 for the conversion of a stores building to a day cancer ward but that was cancelled. 

Planning was granted in May 2022 for the development of a vertical extension over the existing hospital building to create new Out Patient Departments. This project is described in-house in UHW as the most vital one for the future of services. OPDs are currently housed in various locations around the hospital, as well as in newly erected prefabs near the Emergency Department. There are rumours that the essential, vertical OPD has been scrapped in favour of an as yet undisclosed new building. 

Despite progress on staffing and budget, UHW is still the lowest resourced Model 4 hospital in the country. The new OPD, a new ward block and a new Adult Mental Health Unit are all on the HSE Capital Plan. When might we see delivery of one or other of these? 

And, next stop, a medical school!