Who’s battling for Waterford, now that the leadership contest is heating up????

“In the blue corner” we have Simon “The Cork” Coveney. “In the other blue corner” we have Leo “The Lion” Varadkar. Two Fine Gael political heavyweights about to slug it out in a leadership contest. After the long and protracted retirement of Enda Kenny, we can now say for certain that this is a two horse race for the leadership of FG. Perhaps a new Taoiseach of this wee green isle as well.

With two contenders having been announced, each protagonist’s fight team, will start to prepare their “Big fight plan” on just how to defeat an equally youthful opponent. The two combatants are only 38 (Varadkar) and 44 (Coveney). They are literally “Babies”, in terms of a political career. It will certainly be an interesting few weeks ahead, seeing just who matures enough, in the eyes of the FG party cohorts, to take the majority of votes and therefore Kenny’s still warmish leader’s seat.

Mind you, age seems to be no longer a barrier to political immortality. You only have to look east, to France and Emmanuel Macron, who is 39 years old and now the President of France. Sacré bleu!!!

Coveney and Varadkar have held various senior cabinet positions, in the last and current Government. In fact, in equal measure, they have tried to tackle some of the toughest ministerial portfolios. The FG faithful will have marked these times in office as roaring successes. Yet for many, perhaps the majority, there will be a very different definition to success.

Just how do we measure the success of their ministerial office?

Varadkar has held the keys to the offices of; Transport, Tourism and Sport from 2011 to 2014, Health from 2014 to 2016 and currently Social Protection.

In the other corner Coveney has been letting himself in and out of the offices of; Agriculture, Food and the Marine from 2011 to 2014, Defence from 2014 to 2016 and currently Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government.

Interestingly, both sets of localised FG party supporters, will ultimately claim that each candidate has some form of affinity and love for all things Waterford. Coffey is now battling for Coveney’s corner and Deasy, miraculously reappearing from the depths of the “Wild wesht”, has declared for the Varadkar corner. It will also be captivating to see just which way our FG councillors vote? Perhaps we should be party to who they might place their “Paddy Power” wager on?

What of Waterford when all the dust has settled?

In order to answer this question, you need first of all reacquaint yourself with each fighter’s past portfolio.

Has our regional airport not been crying out for money for a runway extension for donkeys’ years? It’s University Hospital Waterford’s plight, to be at the heart of a south east hospital grouping, without the much needed catheterization laboratory or the implementation of the conveniently forgotten Higgins Report, very well documented by now. These game changers for Waterford, with the stroke of a pen, could have been signed off many moons ago. The one consistent factor with these not being delivered seems to have been the Minister in charge at the time, in these Government departments, namely Leo “The Lion” Varadkar!

 

As for Simon “The Cork” Coveney. He cannot be absolved from blame for stymieing Waterford’s progress either. Our coastal fishing industry remains unprotected and many believe devastated. Regional defence bases in the region closed. The “Gifting” of the LE Aoife to the City, as a centre piece to a maritime museum, rejected. Expansion of the City boundary, to the north of the River Suir, dismissed. Despite the recommendations of an impartial independent review committee.

 

So there we have it. The two contenders do NOT have any real meaningful track record of supporting this blue and white city and county. Both could have made a significant difference to where our economy finds itself today. Right here, right now!

Unfortunately, if the last six years are anything to go by, Waterford appears to be on the ropes once again, with both these contenders.

I for one won’t be throwing in the towel.

So it begins......AGAIN!!!!

If you are in favour of the expansion of Waterford City and the greater South East region (which I am), then you will be positively disposed to support the “Report of the Waterford Boundary Review Committee”. A rather meaty 70 page document, which was released last week and immediately, started World War III. With ALL manner of, hitherto silent TDs, from “Across the border”, suddenly getting their tuppence worth on the local airwaves. In fact I would not be surprised if some had contacted The Donald and asked him to fund building another wall!

It will be our shootout at the Ferrybank Corral, with party TD against party TD. The opening salvos have already been fired in the run up to the report’s release. Locally, we have FF and FG Councillors, upsetting their elected TDs, by clearly and openly being in favour of the expansion. Putting their electorate first, above inter-party politics. There have been contradictory radio interviews, thousands of written words in the “North side” local newspapers. As for social media. I am sure the fallout may well take down Mr Zuckerberg’s Facebook empire!

The Report recommends that the Administration area of Waterford Council, be extended to include a significant area, lying to the North of the River Suir. Thus, allowing the City to naturally expand and this in turn should allow for greater economic flexibility in marketing brand Waterford. In time this will help the whole South East region to catch up with the other regional areas of Ireland, which are quite simply miles ahead of Waterford/SE, in terms of their economic recovery?

Our Government’s track record, with regard to accepting and implementing reports, can be vividly demonstrated in the delivery of the Herity Report, on UHW. This of course means that the “Report of the Waterford Boundary Review Committee” will have to be realised, in full, no matter what the political outcry or consequences are!

The Ministers in the Dáil, cannot cherry pick which parts of this independent report they wish to activate. It is all or nothing, as with the Herity Report. A u-turn due to political carping from diametrically opposing views, will not be tolerated and in fact if this happens every “Independent report” can now be questioned, ridiculed and binned.

Unfortunately, like the current health campaign, many will to their own benefit, turn this into an entirely Waterford issue. Deflecting from the stark economic realities, that the South East region is so far adrift from the rest of the country, this expansion needs to happen to generate jobs, jobs and yet more jobs.

Those high horse political naysayers, with rose tinted glasses and myopic vision, need to realise that Dublin’s economic sphere of influence is creeping, rather rapidly, ever closer to our region. This will not only affect Waterford but Wexford, Kilkenny and Carlow too. Jobs will be sucked towards the capital and we will very quickly become dead, soulless commuter belts. It is already happening and to have any chance of stopping the tumbleweed blowing across the whole of the South East, we MUST compete. These recommendations will go some way to levelling the playing field.

It beggars belief that so many, can be influenced by such a few, with only one real agenda. The agenda of getting re-elected. These absent TDs now espousing a “Land grab” and some supportive Hacks, even likening the boundary extension to certain a Mr Hitler invading Poland, need to take a long hard look at themselves. Perhaps they have a rather jaundiced view of European history when it comes to Adolf et al?

The campaign opposed to the boundary extension, took the rather easy option. Asking people to duplicate, copy and regurgitate the same message, on a simple A4 piece of paper. Where’s the passion and emotion in that?

If this was such an emotive issue, then surely that should have been reflected in 19,000 individual heartfelt letters written from the soul? Not a Xerox duplicate.

The wider picture, like our health issues, needs to be addressed. We need investment and more jobs in the region. Moving a line on a map will undoubtedly help.

Bun fight across the Oireachtas bar!

No need for us to anticipate the proposed, Conor McGregor ‘v’ Nate Diaz, rematch in that rather strange sport of UFC. Or the fact a possible Conor McGregor ‘v’ Floyd Mayweather, carnival boxing match, is being considered and was further reported on, over the weekend.

As we here in Waterford, now appear to have the prospect of watching Coffey ‘v’ Deasy, in the run up to the next general election. The two local Fine Gael politicians appear to be squaring up over a number of issues, with the University Hospital Waterford being the main fight topic on the card.

We have known for some time now, that Mr Deasy is well and truly playing the same hand of cards as Minister Harris and standing by the flawed Herity Report. In fact, they have been singing from the same hymn sheet for a number of months. Specifically, in relation to the provision of equality in our South East health service.

Well, it now appears, that from the corridors of the Seanad Éireann, Mr Coffey is starting to shout just a wee bit louder on this subject than his FG colleague. Now that I think, is a good thing. But we have to ask why this was not done a few years ago when Mr Coffey was in fact a Junior Minister, in Government?

When we had the much trumpeted Higgins Report, (I know, we have so many reports lying around we could actually build a wall in Kilkenny!) did our then TDs not act upon the very clear findings by Higgins? Immediately implementing the necessary changes to our health service, for the betterment of all citizens of the South East? All the recommendations were apparently there, in black and white, in the last “Programme for Government”? But alas, like so many other Waterford promises, these were not written in indelible ink! Quite clearly, all matters Waterford seem to be written in pencil, easily erased at the behest of others.

With FG beginning to fight internally, on Kildare Street, they are obviously concerned about the possibility of ever returning back to a two seat constituency, here in Waterford. So the battle lines have been drawn. The first shots across the bow have been fired. But will this very public spat actually benefit the campaign to secure our basic right to adequate health provision out of UHW?

The answer I fear will be no!

It does appear that come election time, we all conveniently forget what has happened over the past 2, 3 or 4 years. Yet we recall the day, which came out of the melting pot, having kicked the neighbours out of Ireland and the subsequent formation of the two main current political parties – namely FF and FG.

Old habits certainly die hard when it comes to putting a number against the ballot paper. We seem to conveniently forget past atrocities and vote the same old way. The last election proved this point and come the next election, will we really vote on the basis of what we read and feel today, in this moment?

The spat between our two FG heavyweights, will bring many column inches to local newspapers, but very few to a national level. Political posturing is akin to the Peacock flashing his wonderful tail feathers, to attract a Peahen into his harem. Not all are fooled.

As a few more regional TDs join our campaign, this will further highlight the deficiencies in those unwilling to support, what should be rightfully be in place here in Waterford, benefitting of the whole region.

Our mobile catheterization laboratory is apparently so mobile, that no knows where it is and when it might actually get round to visiting Waterford. Maybe, Mr Coffey could give Minister Harris these GPS co-ordinates of the hospital, 52.2486° N, 7.0781° W, so that they can be passed to the appropriate Department!

The real fight will of course not live up to the hype, as Mr Deasy will continue his radio silence on all matters Waterford.

Come the next knock at your door, remember the immediate past!

Lost In Kilkenny!

With the papers, quite rightly, giving blanket coverage to #GE16, and journalists and their editors writing many column inches debating the rights and wrongs of the possible makeup of the next Government. I thought that it would be appropriate to stay away from such political commentary this week and besides it has become very clear that I not great at making predications. I had tipped Scotland to win the Six Nations!

I did get three out of the four candidate selections right, but admittedly in the wrong order, and I did suggest that a large cohort of the population were not engaged with politics and therefore they would not be voting. The 36.3% of the electorate or 30,000 people in the Waterford constituency who did not vote could have made a substantial difference to the final results, but as they did not engage or were not engaged, through what was after all a very sterile campaign, we returned two new candidates and two existing candidates. Clearly there was something for everyone from #GE16.

Having decided to stay away from the politics over the weekend, though still receiving regular updates directly from the count centre on the auld smart phone, I squeezed into the Lycra, packed the unicycle into the Mini and headed to Clonmel to take part in a charity cycle for Down Syndrome Ireland and specifically the Cycle for Sarah.

Around 100 Lycra clad people took part in the 130km Cycle for Sarah and there were six plucky members of the Waterford Biscuit Club who made the trip on a very, very cold and wintery Saturday morning. Suitably dressed in our unique Cookie Monster cycling tops we headed out of Clonmel shortly after 10:00 and cycled straight into a freezing cold Arctic wind as we set our sights on getting to the pit stop in Kilkenny as fast as possible.

Once out of Clonmel the large group naturally began to fracture into smaller packets of biscuits and being the competitive Scotsman that I am I chased down the guys at the front and soon we were a small selection of six, six men that really had no idea what so ever where we were actually going.

Spotted hiding in Kilkenny. 

As we ploughed on, counting down the kilometres, one of the marshals directed us right, off the main road, and straight up a rather steep hill and onto some very quiet back roads that seemed to be taking us in an easterly direction. We eventually decided to turn left cycling a few more kilometres, up some more steep hills, through some very small hamlets and onto the ubiquitous single track roads you inevitably come across in Ireland when you take a wrong turn.

Clearly we were lost in Kilkenny.

But no man worth his salt would ever admit to being lost, so we continued battling the wind and cold and then “BANG”! No were not shot by some Deliverance cast member we had a puncture that took an eternity to fix due to a very finicky valve that would not play ball. We had stopped in the middle of nowhere and the silence was only broken by the sound of the odd gunshot, crows calling and the cackle of male pheasant who was no doubt laughing at us. Eventually, we got moving once again and steered roughly in the direction of Kilkenny.

SPEEEEEEED!

Arriving with hypothermia in Kilkenny we stopped for a warm cup of coffee and some soup, where I checked the election update and knew that there was every possibility of some shock results on the way. I jumped back onto the bike for a quick flat-out blast back to Clonmel to get home to see if I needed to buy yet another wooden spoon!

It was a great way to spend a Saturday morning and to stay somewhat remote from all the #GE16 results. The company was great and the scenery was not too bad either.

They think it is all over!

Well it will be on Friday 26^th February for the next five year. Or will it?

In under 24 hours we will all be in the solitude of an election ballot booth, pencil or pen in hand, a ballot paper facing us, displaying in alphabetical order the very best profile shots of the 12 candidates on offer here in Waterford City and County.

If you were to believe all the election spin we are reading, hearing and seeing on our national TV channels, then every party is going to get the number one vote from every doorstep visited. This of course means that all 12 of our candidates will be elected!

In our four TD constituency we will of course only see four TD’s represent us in the next Dáil and these four good men or women will hope to have five years to make a real difference to Waterford and the people they represent. So making the right decision will have a bearing on how our City and County perform over the next five years and yet I do feel that there may be a minority Government formed and we will be back in the same sterile election booth sooner rather than later.

Quite clearly there will be some very interesting shenanigans post #GE16 when the main political parties start the political scrambling and begin to barter a better deal with Independents, the smaller parties and anyone who can be bought and sold for a handful of gold.

We may even end up with an old historical political map where the odd few battle hardened Independents can hold a coalition Government to ransom. Where support votes can be guaranteed with vast sums of money for roads, for schools and of course the Independents' favourites hospitals and education.

Though only living here in Waterford City for fifteen years I do recall in previous Dáils many political bounty hunters making lots of hay whilst the sun shone with cobbled together Governments that were literally held together with no more than sticky tape. This type of Government is no good to man or beast and in fact makes an utter farce of the current political system.

Do we really wish to see the return to the omnishambles of a Government where the future governance of the whole country is held to a payoff by the localised whims and promised votes of country bumpkin politics? This type of political rule is unfortunately still at large in Ireland and we need to move away from such Dickensian ways and practices. But I fear this time around the politics will not have engaged with sufficient “new” voters to move us in the right direction and deliver a better and more transparent political system.

Rest assured that the usual suspects who have graced the front pages of our board sheets, for all the wrong reasons over the last five years, will be returned to the Dáil for #GE16. These local “cowboy politicians” have for some unexplained rationale lots of grassroots support, in some abundance, as there is no real alternative to the political malaise that grips the Country.

I have often wondered if the political Status Quo actually suits the current politics we have to live with on a daily basis, as to have to engage with potential new voters takes time, effort, and above all an awful lot of imagination.

We all know that imagination and our current political representatives are not a marriage made in heaven! So it may well take another generation to make a real change in the way we engage and vote in Ireland or it might take a hung Government and a few months of political infighting, bickering and squabbling to finally get all voters to see the woods for the trees. 

#GE16 will not go down in history as the most exciting, but do hold your breath as another #GE may just be around the corner.

Time to get Political!

Democratic Party poster used in the 1960 US election!

There has been a flurry of political activity over the last week with two general election launches here in Waterford; David Cullinane’s Sinn Féin election campaign launch took place in the Granville Hotel, in Waterford City, and Mary Butler’s Fianna Fáil campaign launch took place in Micilins, in Kilrossanty. Incidentally, a place I have only discovered recently whilst cycling around our wonderful county on my Penny-farthing.

It was interesting to note the difference between these two launches, with one clearly City centric focused and the other County focused. I would have thought that the clever and most appropriate option would of course be to combine both a City and County launch thus getting a broad acceptance that you are going to “win” a seat in the next Government for the WHOLE of Waterford’s population and not just one geographical area.

Both launches rolled out a current political heavyweight and Mary Lou clearly got her and Cullinane’s PR bandwagon off to a flying start with her dulcet tones gracing the airwaves of WLR FM on Friday morning, and Billy giving her both barrels on the Proportional Electoral system and just where were Cullinane’s transfer votes going to come from. It will be interesting to see if Cullinane can in fact generate a decent number of transfers and I would envisage that his seat will be decided on just how he engages with the electorate outside of that SF comfort blanket.

Don't lean too far!

The two contrasting launches were also covered across the plethora of social media we are now bombarded with on our phones, PC’s, laptops and tablets. The Granville Hotel appeared to be hopping and there was much activity from the strategically placed press corps, seated just behind the top table for this launch, and in Kilrossanty it appeared to be a much more “sober” affair with less hooting and hollering from those in attendance and more of a gathering of friends than a media scrum.

In addition, there has been much sharing of betting odds across social media and according to the most recent odds supplied from the likes of Paddy Power Deasy, Halligan, Coffey and Cullinane are pretty much the favourites to be returned in the next election to represent our Waterford constituency.

Of course, betting odds in an election are very fickle and difficult to forecast and we only have to remind ourselves of the UK elections last May. Nobody predicted the outcome and even the final “live exit poll” on the BBC was poo-pooed by Paddy Ashdown, who stated live on air that he would eat his hat if the exit poll results were correct. Well, Paddy ended up eating not just his hat but his whole wardrobe, shoes and all.

It will certainly be an interesting few weeks ahead and all our local newspapers will begin to allocate more and more ink to the General Election of 2016. We are beginning to read election focused headlines as we all start to get excited by all the thoughts of reading about the latest political manoeuvrings and the potential of political skulduggery.

“A vote for Paudie Coffey” was declared one of our local columns. “Getting ready for election” was another editorial headline.

Will you vote to keep the Status Quo?

As we gear ourselves up to start thinking about the next election rest assured that if you wish to change the political map or keep the status quo than we must engage our existing politicians and we must interrogate our aspiring politicians.

The odds are extremely close and yet nobody really knows how we will vote until we have a ballot paper and a pencil on our hand and we are in the confines of the polling station.

However you decide to vote and everyone should vote, do a wee bit of homework and prepare for the next election. The last outcome you want to see is that of your preferred candidate missing election to the next Government by one vote – a vote that you failed to deliver by not understanding the candidates and the voting system in place.

Our chance to make a land grab!

"We can use these & fill them with the North Quay rubble."

My recent article, published in the Waterford Today, on the North Quay’s demolition has certainly sparked much debate around the lack of removal of the rubble and a number of people have been in touch stating that they were led to believe that the whole site would be left “clean and clear” once the demolition had taken place.

The potential for huge piles of rubble, which we could all be staring at for months on end, got me thinking about a creative way WE could help to shift said rubble as a cost neutral exercise for Council. That is assuming that the rubble will not be left in architecturally pleasing piles that we are told resemble the pyramids of Giza.

It is only a matter of time before we get the call to arms, which will be broadcast loud and clear on Deise AM, for the people of Waterford to get involved in helping shift the rubble as no extra money could be found in the Council’s 2016 budget to do this on our behalf.

I can just imagine thousands of people from Waterford marching across Rice Bridge and visiting the North Quays wearing overly baggy trousers and, rather strangely, being observed placing large quantities of the rubble into their trouser pockets. In a similar manner to Messer McQueen, Gardner, Pleasance and Attenborough in The Great Escape and of course Robbins in The Shawshank Redemption.

How long will it take to build a new wall?

Having secretly filled hidden jute sacks inside their baggy trouser legs the people of Waterford would head off in the direction of Ferrybank and the Port where they would deposit the rubble along Minister Coffey’s proposed new boundary line.

Over a period of months the North Quay would be rid of the rubble and a new city wall would have appeared, grabbing the very land that Kilkenny Councillors are incredulously protecting. An area that, until now, Kilkenny Council seem to have had no interest in until they heard the sound of commercial rates income coming from the expansion of the IDA site at the Port of Waterford.

Literally over night Waterford City would have expanded and we would suddenly, for once and for all, have incorporated Ferrybank and the Port of Waterford under the control of Waterford Council. There would be no need for any more committee discussions as the people of Waterford would have taken the bulls by the horns, bypassed all the political rhetoric and done what should have be done years ago.

The added bonus would be that our history of unconquerable walls is good, “Urbs Intacta Manet”, and once we secured the land grab it would be impossible for Kilkenny to take it back.

With such large quantities of stone and rubble needing to be moved we could also restart the old jute factory and for a short window of opportunity someone could create a wee cottage industry to supply the small jute sacks ideally sized to perfectly fit inside a trouser leg. Eventually the old jute factory could be turned into a real working museum along the lines of Verdant Mills in Dundee.

A hot topic on both sides of the River Suir.

The above is of course fantasy and the ramblings of an over active mind but the sentiment and meaning are real.

If Waterford City and County are to compete with our neighbouring counties and towns then we really need to look to the future with added aggression and ambition.

The North Quay must not become an eyesore for our citizens and the City’s 2016 visitors. It was hard enough to keep positive when the works on the South Quay were taking place and trying to constantly explain that “2011 Tall Ships are coming back” banner was beyond a joke!

Optics is everything. Incorporating Ferrybank and the Port into the City will make us a better place to invest in and, more significantly, we will be able to control our shop window to the City, which at the moment is controlled by Kilkenny Council. 

Now where is the sense in that!