Political frustration

This paper covered the US investment for Waterford Airport in last week’s issue in detailed reportage by Shannon Sweeney and others. Most locals will also have heard Damien Tiernan’s similar interviews last week with Ministers Butler and Cummins where our airport (and state investment for Waterford) was discussed. 

The radio interview with Minister Cummins was interesting, but the assertion of the department “assisting the airport by giving it a copy of the Cork Airport plan”, having held up our plan for years while depriving it of funding, is farcical. They’ve kicked the can for years and now demand a procurement plan under new rules because of price increases caused by their delay. Kafka or Machiavelli, which is it? There is wholesale frustration with the government’s investment record in Waterford across all sectors. How can you convince anyone, while the national media highlighted a multi-billion Cork infrastructure plan being presented last week for cabinet approval by Transport Minister Darragh O’Brien, that the same minister was unable to sign off on a token €12m matching funding for Waterford Airport?

Waterford people hardly care if the streets of Cork are paved with gold, provided we get a fair crack of the whip. Our airport is symbolic in that regard. By the way, tens of millions have been allocated to Cork and Rosslare Port development in recent years without a cent for Waterford Port. Our port has been downgraded and bracketed with Galway Port (one fifth size of ours) for state investment purposes. It’s a familiar routine. We’ll jump through hoops while the money goes elsewhere. Minister Butler says that the Airport Section of the Department of Transport is opposed to Waterford Airport, but not, Ms Butler suggests, to Waterford? They believe the country has enough airports, but the rule is simple, civil servants advise the minister and the minister decides based on criteria, which include political and policy ramifications. Funding of our airport has allegedly been kicked into the long grass of the Programme for Government (PFG) and new procurement rules because of the Airport Section opposition. The dogs on the street know that successive FF and FG Transport Ministers have failed to support us. To learn from the minutes of last July’s meeting of airport stakeholders with Minister O’Brien, that our two local ministers “expressed disappointment and frustration over the failure to fund Waterford Airport” speaks of a disastrous absence of influence.

Waterford has not been fortunate in having ministers in government since this state was founded. The airport investment graphically underlines that historic deficit. Martin Cullen between 2002 and 2010 showed us the capacity of a senior minister to influence delivery to his/her own constituency (Cork, Limerick, Galway anyone?). It is therefore essential, when the opportunity presents itself for cabinet representation, as at the last election that our TDs grasp it with both hands. Mary Butler was odds on favourite to be Minister for Children (something well within her capacity) but allowed Taoiseach Micheál Martin to sideline her with the position of Chief Whip. The airport and its subsequent funding from outside sources will taint FF and FG as being anti-Waterford. Minister Cummins is a new TD and might be excused, but the debacle illustrates the magnitude of the political evisceration (and misogyny?) that Ms Butler endured at the hands of a Cork Taoiseach. Martin absolutely knew how important her elevation was to Waterford. His record is tainted by the fact that he put local aggrandisement before equity for Waterford. Ms Butler should have stood her ground and refused the Chief Whip job. If Martin survives politically, she should insist on a full ministry at the next reshuffle.

While Waterford celebrates the North Quays investment, the development of a new SETU engineering Building, albeit 20 years overdue, and the construction of a new UHW surgical hub, it is impossible to understand how the system can get away with actually misleading the people of Waterford. Parliamentary Question 3457/23 answered 8th Feb 2023, to Matt Shanahan TD, by Paul De Freine, HSE National Director of Capital and Estates about a new “Children and Young People with complex needs” hub at St Otteran’s Hospital, part funded by Waterford’s Touching Hearts charity. Mr De Freine was explicit: “The design team was appointed in Quarter 3 of 2022, and it is expected that an application for planning permission will be lodged in Quarter 3 of 2023. Construction should commence in Quarter 3 of 2024, with an estimated completion date of 18 months.” None of these deadlines were met. No planning application was made. The project, in the HSE Capital Plan since 2021, was obviously queued for funding and construction. It was pulled without recorded comment from Minister Butler who was junior minister at the time to senior Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly (FF). So much for young people with complex needs? The fear from a Waterford point of view is that Minister Butler appears very much prepared to accept what she is given, rather than demanding what is rightly due. Waterford’s future depends on her to a great extent and after 15 years as a loyal and dependable FF TD and six years as a junior minister, she must deserve better. An early senior ministry is key!

The politically uncommented on SEEM Report references the current economic position: “The South East, despite marquee projects like the North Quays, has the lowest per capita investment at €1,738…around €7,000 below the national average, reflecting a persistent pattern of regional underinvestment. While the national economy has significantly outperformed expectations, recording GDP growth of 40.2% since 2019 and maintaining strong employment levels, the South East follows a notably different trajectory. Over the same period, the region’s GDP has grown by just 8.2%, with two of the last five years showing contraction. Despite its limitations in the Irish context, Regional Gross Domestic Product (GDP) remains the primary benchmark of economic performance and by that standard the South East has seen virtually no growth since 2018.” Unless fair and balanced regional development is tackled more aggressively in Waterford, as it has been in Galway and Limerick (Cork and Dublin are different worlds), we are fated to struggle economically. None of our elected representatives want that.