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The most talked about thing at every gathering I attended over the past two weeks was Waterford Airport and hopes for its success. 

There is a deep well of anger locally at how the project was dragged through the mud by government over the past decade and at the obvious political flim flam that surrounded the project. Government just does not want it and all ministerial and departmental comment was waffle meant to delay and kick the can to eventual, calculated and deliberate extinction. The egregious failure to provide matching funding to a project which will be important for the south east in the long term, was unconscionable. Government requested reports, business and procurement plans until the investors walked away, and regardless of the truth or otherwise of it, Waterford people see the dead hand of Micheál Martin and his Cork agenda everywhere. The belief is also widespread that many Waterford HSE/UHW projects died a death in the upper realms of the Cork based SSHWG with the blessing of Mr Martin. It’s a meme at this stage, but will we ever see a fair share of what’s going as long as he is in office?

Anyway, hopefully the new US investor will be allowed to deliver our airport runway project without departmental interference. Any political attempt to derail the project should be met with massive public protest. Listening to a recent podcast from the American political commentator David Brooks, who said that 30 years ago, 70% of the public believed the US government was generally working for the greater public good. That figure has now dwindled to 30% with predictable electoral results. When people feel excluded or overlooked, they look for solutions outside the mainstream, hence Mr Trump and his MAGA group, even though the latter has shown no real interest in anything except the wealthy elite. It’s a contradiction, but anyone observing current Irish politics can see the same dissatisfaction with the system emerging in many places. Waterford people believe that the government is not on their side. Something similar is visible in local politics, where for a multiplicity of reasons, a sizable section of the local population believes that our council is simply on auto pilot.

Winterval was an undoubted success this year, with large crowds and a positive atmosphere. Parking was at a premium across the city. When councillors asked why the closed New Street Multi Storey could not be brought into use, the rote excuses came thick and fast. It suffers from flooding, needs new ticket machines, needs a new layout. For Heaven’s sake this is not rocket science. The council has battalions of engineers, surely they can do a bit of engineering? Just do it. New digital signs have appeared, giving some advance warning of parking in the city, but there is no obvious and coherent plan. 

If it’s all about putting the best foot forward, given the effort made to create an event like Winterval, of which festive lighting is such an intrinsic part, it is deeply upsetting to see long garlands of lighting along the quays out of action for weeks. Some lighting decorations in the main streets were not working and worst of all, lighting garlands in front of City Hall and along The Mall were unlit. Can we not get bulbs to work? Criticisms of public lighting in Waterford city are ubiquitous, as repairs often go unanswered for years. Anyone who has seen the steel tube, “lighting standards” fixed to poles around the city must despair. Any and every length of galvanized pipe, straight and bent, was pressed into action atop utility poles. Design is nowhere in evidence. This is “Ah shure twill do!” at its worst. Many people feel that this is the overwhelming guiding principle of a disinterested local authority staff in the appearance of the city. Where is the passion and the ambition to make this the best city in the country?

Our place in the Irish urban hierarchy is at risk and the understanding that no one is waiting for Waterford to catch up is hardly in evidence. The lack of focus on the city post amalgamation is really apparent. Some councillors are waking up to the challenges facing our city. Social media criticism and comment is not to be taken as representative of the general view of where we are in the scheme of things, but there is much concern heard in private conversations. 

The difficulties facing our city spring in large part from limited government investment. Even when it’s promised it takes so long to materialise that it's inevitably a day late and a dollar short. All the good is sucked out of it. Not a single UHW project has moved to the planning permission stage in the past year, instead, long-promised projects for psychiatry, out-patients, extra beds and multi-storey parking have been shelved. That’s a shocking indictment of our representation. 24/7 was announced a year ago for UHW by the Minister for Health. Where is it? What are our two government ministers doing about it? Wringing their hands? Moaning on local radio? Swallowing the official blather hook, line and sinker? The Mater Dolorosa act has worn thin and given the widely understood deficits across all government programs one wonders how long people in Waterford will tolerate our current cadre in the Dáil? Private investment follows public investment is an equation that is increasingly being understood by the Waterford electorate.

Our chamber of commerce is bogged down. Our council is inert. Criticism of government is muted if heard at all. The IDA is missing in action and has taken, like SETU, to the hovering drone principle, seeking to be everywhere across the region and nowhere, lest any county be offended. It’s so long since there was an FDI announcement in Waterford, that our economic throat is cut. A record IDA year with 323 job announcements, 183 of those in the regions, only one, from IBM, in Waterford! So much for being nominated as the regional economic driver. Perhaps it's pertinent to ask our four TDs if there is any state metric under which Waterford has the same provision as our once peer cities of Limerick and Galway.