A New Year revolution – I mean resolution!

As we move into 2017, I wonder just what is in store for Waterford and its people.

2016, as many have pointed out on social media, has been another year, which could only be described as an “Annus Horribilis!” The year started off with so much promise. A very early general election was announced and there was much talk about “New Politics” for 2016. But alas, there was absolutely no movement away from the traditional parish pump political delivery of old. Something unfortunately, we in Waterford seem to be particularly bad at.

One of our nearest neighbours has this down to a fine art and perhaps we should take a lesson or two from him. People vote in their thousands, for the Teflon Mr Lowry, because he is like a tin of Ronseal and does exactly what it says on the label. Apparently, he does a good job for all his constituents, runs a very efficient constituency office, unequalled in the whole of Ireland, gets involved with public bodies, service providers and tackles the inefficiencies of officialdom, all for the good of his beloved County.

In fact, whilst our newly elected TD’s were enjoying themselves in Dublin, arguing amongst themselves or waving various pieces of paper, a certain Mr Lowry was working the corridors of power. He was achieving as much as he could, for the people who allowed him to return to Dublin. The fragile Government, that he found himself a part of, could be manipulated to his sole benefit and that is exactly what he did. In under a year he has delivered in spades for his constituency. All it seems even more impressive, having managed somehow, to do this with no significant negative media coverage. He also appears to have been able to get blood from a stone and all without having to “Be bought and sold for foreign gold”.

This is one politician, who has quite clearly has put his people first. First above all other matters and that is why he has been so successful at the ballot box.

In addition to a world with yet more blatant “Parish pump shenanigans”, that other sin of Irish politics, namely cronyism now seems to be de rigueur. There have been people appointed, on a seemingly “willy-nilly” basis, to boards, committees, quangos, high profile roles, senior civil servants posts and so on. Now, in theory, there should be no real issue with this, but when friends, family members and people with little or no experience are shoe-horned into roles, we have to ask “WHY?”

It is against this backdrop, we need to look more closely, at just what 2017 might or might not bring to Waterford and the wider south east region. Clearly, we have some very serious, continuing issues. There are NO political heavyweights, punching for us, in Dublin. In truth, we have no one fighting on the undercard.

Regionally we are suckered. There are just too many Mr Lowrys surrounding Waterford, all looking after and protecting their own patch to worry, or be concerned with Ireland’s oldest City. We appear to have found ourselves in one of Mr Boyle’s vacuums and getting out of it will unquestionably take more than a few New Year resolutions. I fear we’ll need a whole political revolution, to get this City back to its rightful place as the fourth City of the Republic.

But just how do we go about making that revolution happen?

The non-stick Mr Lowry knows, from the many thousands that interact with him, whether he is or isn’t delivering for Tipp. The people of his constituency are, quite rightly, involved with their very local political affairs. They want to know what is being delivered, locally and nationally, for their taxes. Making sure that Tipp gets not only a look at, but is allowed to choose from the A La Carte menu.

My hope for the year ahead, is that we the people of Waterford, simply get involved to make sure that those elected on our behalf, deliver for us and not for themselves.

Here’s to 2017 and some new politics. Happy New Year.

Are we using the wrong type of bricks to get the City back on track?

Are we using the wrong type of bricks to get the City back on track?

And to try to explain what I mean I will revert back to my childhood and when we were all “wee bairns” we all played with Lego Bricks, Stickle Bricks, Duplo Bricks and probably Meccano (advanced types of bricks if you like). But what we never did was try to play with them all together or try to create a design that incorporated aspects of multiple differing bricks, as it simply did not work. No matter how hard you tried the Lego was not compatible with the Duplo or the Stickle Bricks and absolutely nothing was compatible with Meccano!

As a child our worlds were completely consumed by one type of building material that suited one specific age group until we were old enough to eagerly move onto something else that suited a completely new older age group.

My own building path went as follows; Stickle Bricks, Lego, Meccano and then Airfix, and I would hazard a bet that many reading this article followed the exact same path – age permitting of course.

This was of course a deliberate ploy by each manufacturer and I am sure that they all agreed in the confines of cosy “Golden-Circles-Boardrooms” that each would target a specific market sector and by ensuring that each construction set was non-compatible with another in the market they could ALL have some market share and of course each would then have a chance to build brand loyalty. What ultimately happened with each of these toys is that you were either a Lego boy or a Meccano boy or Airfix boy and so on. We see this now replicated in the twenty first century but with phone brands – it is either Apple, Samsung, HTC, Nokia, Blackberry and so on.

What has made many toy manufacturers and today’s modern phone suppliers so successful is that they have literally moved heaven and earth to make you the consumer brand loyal. They have ensured that you have made an informed choice to support one particular manufacturer as you have become accustomed to that brands; quality, feel, technology, design, the tactile nature of the product, the way the product make you feel and so on. By sticking to one winning formula that is ever evolving and ever improving, albeit in small increments, they have ensured that you will stick purchasing what you know because you know “It does exactly what is says in the tin.”

So what of brand Waterford and the future development of the City and its City Centre?

There has been much talk and debate in recent weeks around the future Urban Renewal Plans, the North Quays, the Michael Street Shopping Development, the Apple Market Development and of course much debate around the developed Viking Triangle area and access in and out of this area of prime real estate or our most expensive bus park, as some are now calling the area (and with some justification too).

But in terms of moving the City forward I often feel and so do many others that there appears to be very little joined up thinking when it comes to actually developing the City. Or in other words some are Lego users, some are Stickle Brick champions and some are Meccano aficionados.

On the surface we have many, many great and potentially future changing ideas but I and many others do feel that getting them ALL to work together in harmony for the betterment of Waterford citizens will be a monumental task, an impossible task even. One does get the feeling that all the plans we read and hear about are somehow being drafted and discussed in isolated underground bunkers where no other opinion matters for fear of upsetting someone, and as a result we do not get the much needed robust debate and we do not get people willing to put a hand, never mind their head, above the parapet. It is almost as if there is a collective fear around getting involved or perhaps there is a fear that decisions have already been made and no matter what lobbying or interaction takes place the only opinion that matters is the one that comes out of the underground bunker!

I admit that there is concern and apathy from many businesses that despite the circa €33,000,000 paid in commercial rates they will never really be listened to and the citizens of Waterford at times simply feel “What is the point!”

We have yet to build any brand loyalty towards the City and we are ALL confused as we see too many different messages and this ultimately will create confusion, bewilderment, apathy, indifference and so on. The City must start delivering projects in real-time and delivering these in a proper logical order.

So, let us deliver and build the Michael Street shopping centre, then deliver a North Quay development and if we see hundreds of thousands of extra tourists and visitors spending money in the City as a results of these two developments, then have a look at the traffic flow and roads.

But whatever we do we must ALL be using the same type of bricks otherwise nothing will get done.

ENDS