“Walk on by!”

Just over a week ago Ex Ophelia left these shores to be followed very quickly by the oh so terrifying, storm Brian.

Brian was never a name that, in all honesty, struck fear into any man (sorry Brians of this world)! To me, this name will be forever associated with the BBC children’s, stop animation TV series, “The Magic Roundabout”.

Those of a certain vintage, will recall that the snail in the Trilby hat, was called Brian. He never did anything exciting, or frightening for that matter. Episode after episode, he would do nothing more than wander ever so slowly and aimlessly, around the set and that roundabout. He attempted to dish out the odd piece of advice, but never an angry or cross word was uttered, by “Brian the snail”.

If these weather themed names were to be maintained, then I think that the next few storms should have been called; Coral, Dougal or Dylan and not forgetting Ermintrude, the pink coo! None of these names would strike terror into any human being.

Caroline is the next designated storm for Ireland and the UK. Followed, coincidently enough by a Dylan. I assume not identified with the dozy, lethargic rabbit, from “The Magic Roundabout”? Apparently named, after the real Bob Dylan! There is even an Iona, a Hector, a Larry and a Winifred!!! I doubt there’s a scary forename, amongst this year’s chosen 21.

Is it me or has anyone else noticed, that the storms bearing female specific gender, are more wrathful and angrier than the male counterparts? I know I may have just opened up an astronomic can of worms with this statement, but it does seem so!

In the midst of saying goodbye to one storm and welcoming another, the Government’s post-budget road trip was cancelled last week. On safety advice both Leo and Paschal, quite rightly, chose to park the company jet, save on a wee bit of fuel and leave visiting Waterford City and County until a future date.

There was much excitement in many a local Fine Gael Councillor’s household, with this imminent visit of the two most powerful men in Irish politics. We even heard on thegrapevine, that they were coming to announce securing the circa €61,000,000 for our North Quay development. Alas, we will have to wait just a wee bit longer for this project to get over the line. In the meantime we continue to anticipate and be intrigued by the many other reported developments apparently in the pipeline, supporting this SDZ.

I just hope that these two TDs actually manage to find their way to Waterford. To date, this Government’s record has not been overly encouraging. Let’s face it, we are a priority to neither of these Dublin-Centric power brokers.

No good news on the money front!

But fear not, as we read about Waterford taking the lead in building a tranche of brand new council houses. The work of one Councillor doing another solo run, apparently! Yet our Minister is also claiming credit for this miracle delivery, of 31 new housing units in Waterford City. Read the small print! You’ll see that these have been scheduled, planned, designed and talked about for some significant time. They should have been provided long before even Ex Ophelia appeared.

Red tape and bureaucratic shenanigans, by senior civil servants, conspire to hold this project up. Sounds familiar? Not for the first time we have had to wait for someone else to line up his or her ducks.

Building council houses on Local Authority owned land has to be a simple, quick process, doesn’t it? By all accounts it’s not. There are many, many hoops to jump through. Why does everything have to be sooooo complicated? Can we not just make the right decisions and deliver on the “Programme for Government”?

Ex Ophelia and Brian have walked right on by Waterford, en route to another destination. They came promising so much and gave us a very small insight into the dormant power of nature. I am sure that they’ve both left plenty in the tank.

Will we get as excited when Leo and Paschal next storm into our City? I leave that for you to consider, dear readers.

It’s “Oh So Quiet!”

“Sssh, sssh, it’s oh so quiet....sssh, sssh and so peaceful until...” are the words from the first verse of that wonderfully weird, Icelandic singer Bjork’s, 1995 song. A year I remember very, very well. This was the year I would marry an Irish lassie and through the fickle fate of fortune, ultimately end up living here, in Waterford City. Settling with my young family, in January 2001 and I have no intention of moving on.

My during my time to date in Waterford there have been a number of issues constantly courting media attention. Cementing Waterford City as the economic gateway to the South East. Delivering University status for the WIT and not may I add to this argument not a fudged “Technological” status. The full Scotch Bonnet chilli version, with ALL the associated kudos. More importantly, with the necessary funding bells and whistles. Giving our youth the very same third level opportunities to enrol at a REAL university, just like the other four cities in Ireland. A regional hospital which provides “Adequate” services for the half a million population in the region. Finally, our fare share of IDA Foreign Direct Investment into Waterford, to service our economy.

The recently published statistics, by the IDA themselves, detailing activity for 2017 are inexcusable and indefensible. Only “Four”, yes “4”, visits in the first six months of this year! Quite clearly we need to work harder on our visibility. Not only did our NHS mobile catheterisation laboratory struggle to find us, but the IDA is now having trouble pinpointing Waterford on an Ordnance Survey map.

If Ireland Inc’s economic recovery is “Well underway”, according to Leo, it’s incomprehensible that Waterford has received only 0.016% of total potential FDI visits. Why is our Government Minister and absent TD, not screaming and shouting about this s*”@e statistic?

My calculator actually coughed with embarrassment, when trying to work out such a low, low percentage! No matter how much spin you put on this figure, it must indisputably show that Waterford is being ignored and quite literally wiped off the map, in terms of REAL regional development.

Yet, it is against this myopic back drop, we are seeing Local Property Tax to be increased by 2.5 % in 2018. The suggested proposal was 10%!!!! Commercial Rates will likely face a significant increase, in the forthcoming final Council budgetary meetings. Where are the people living who are making theses decision on our behalf? Are they living in such a cosseted, cocooned financial bubble that increases are irrelevant, given their own financial circumstances? 

Last week I wrote about the Council’s very own Indecon Report. This delivered an irrefutable argument for central exchequer funding, for our Strategic Development Zone on the North Quays. This report outlined just how tough our current economic circumstances are. When you add in the lack of IDA interest in Waterford, is it any wonder that our fragile economic recovery is miles behind the rest of Ireland? It cannot come as any surprise, that we have some of the lowest disposable incomes of any of the regions.

Yet, we constantly allow others to take more and more of our hard earned cash from our pockets, without as much as a whimper!

Lots of people are shocked and annoyed about having to pay more LPT and many have told me this is the case. Has anyone actually contacted their local Councillor and asked them “Why my LPT is going up?” “What is the increase actually paying for?” I am sure we would all, albeit reluctantly, pay a little bit more if this would ensure better services, better roads, better footpaths etc. Is that what this increase is essentially paying for? Are there not indications that all these budgetary lines are remaining the same, as in 2017?

 

Last week, we also saw the release of the much lauded National Planning Framework document, showing many new key performance indicators for Waterford. Regrettably, the language used, is once again far too vague on delivery. I for one, won’t be holding my breath, awaiting these miracles, for I’d surely suffocate!

Our perplexing ability, not to question so many of these issues, ensures that we will continue to remain on the bottom rung of the funding ladder.

What if your Local Property Tax was to go up?

“Well boi”, it’s that time of year once again!

Behind the closed, locked doors of City Hall and Dungarvan Civic Offices, our 32 Councillors will be, should be, fiddling with their calculators. (This is not a euphemism!) They’re deciding the Waterford City and County budget for 2018. But just what might this mean for you, the reader?

The actual process of passing and approving a “Balanced budget” is rather strange. As there is so much of the Executives’ budget that is quite literally “Untouchable”. In fact our Councillors can only change, alter or influence a rather small percentage of a much larger circa €130,000,000 budget. With the Lansdowne-Haddington-kick-the-can-down-the-Road agreements coming on stream, we could see pressure being heaped on our Council to contribute more to budgetary areas. Expected pay and pension increases that may not actually be covered by additional, supplementary central exchequer grants/funds. This of course means you and I have to pay for this.

You might recall, that our local news and media, covered many column inches, giving lots of radio snippets, about just how there could be absolutely NO Local Property Tax (LPT) or Commercial Rates increases for 2017. The Councillors agreed that the timing was NOT right!

What has changed in our economic outlook that makes increase charges to LPT and Commercial Rates, a very realistic possibility for 2018?

Look at highly regarded reports, such as the WIT “South East Economic Monitor” and more recently the Council’s very own, Indecon “Economic Cost Benefit Appraisal of the Waterford City Urban Renewal Scheme”. The Indecon document is the actual report, commissioned by the Council, submitted to Government for circa €61,000,000 of exchequer funding. Income that would make possible the alteration to infrastructural groundwork. Which in turn, would allow Saudi Arabia’s Fawaz Alhokair Group, to build on our Strategic Development Zone, on the North Quays.

Both of these reports detail and outline, in no uncertain terms, Waterford City/County and the wider South East region have some way to go, to catch up on the rest of the country’s “Green shoots of recovery”. In fact the gulf, excuse the pun, between some of the economic indicators is, in truth, quite jaw dropping. Disposable income, percentage of the population at risk of poverty, labour force participation rates, unemployment rates, third level attainment....and more besides, make for some incredibly grim reading.

But then we all know that the South East has been neglected by successive Governments for year, after year, after year.

The statistics produced, make an exceptionally compelling and concrete case for Government support for the Alhokair Group’s plans for the North Quays. I do hope that this money is forthcoming from this current Government. Kick starting a REAL recovery in Waterford and the wider South East region. One would also hope that any infrastructural funding would find its way to Waterford. Much, much faster than our rented, National Health Service mobile catheterisation laboratory did! (It has arrived! But then again you would know this, due to the “Trumpeting”, by a few on social media).

Oh and we must remember that with a local council election scheduled for 2019, next year is realistically, the only opportunity that our 32 brave men and women have, to impose punitive increases. Increases on both our LPT and that other easily reached cash cow, Commercial Rates. After all who would want to be imposing unpopular increases, when disproportionate door knocking is already pencilled into the diary?

Any increase, no matter how small, will affect our particularly local economy. Businesses and households are already extraordinarily tight for money, facing continued huge increases in car insurance, rising back to school costs, a spiralling cost of living, fuel expenses for both car and home inflating. Business overheads are also rising disproportionately, thus not reflecting where Waterford’s economy presently sits. The previously mentioned reports, back up just how tight we ALL are for money and disposable income is as rare as hen’s teeth.

What are we to do if increases are imposed by our elected 32 for 2018? Simply ask them directly;

“Why should I be paying more?” Above all, it’s imperative you take an interest in what your Councillors are doing for you and Waterford.

Our catheterisation laboratory is still “Missing In Action!”

As the temperature dropped, quite dramatically in the last couple of days, we left the Summer behind and Autumn began to colour our lives. Not before one last hurrah in Waterford City. Our Harvest Festival celebrated “All things foodie” in this South East region.

The Terra Madre Slow Cook Festival organised, by amongst others Donal Lehane and Donald Sutherland (not the actor), was looking to expand, develop and “Grow to the next level”. I was CEO of Waterford Chamber of Commerce at the time and remember this festival’s origins. I jumped at the chance to bring this fledgling festival under our wing, help nurture it, allowing it to mature into the festival we love and recognise today.

A suitable committee was formed, with great support from Waterford Council. Harvest Festival stretched almost the length of our waterfront quay. One kilometre of food offerings, stalls, entertainment, educational classes, GIY conferences and even a petting zoo. The very best of our region, the “Breadbasket” of Ireland. It was a huge, roaring success, if you can recall and the finest in my opinion. Bringing enormous numbers of people to Waterford City, looking to sample or discover something new, to titillate their taste buds.

It is not only the Harvest Festival that has been a “Last of the Summer Wine” distraction. There were plenty of other events taking place, in and around our county to entertain us.

There has been a diversity of sporting achievements. Our magnificent young (youngish Mr “Brick” Walsh) hurlers’ odyssey to Croke Park and of course Waterford FC chasing promotion back to their rightful place in a Premier League. Lots of charity fundraising events such as the Donal O’Connor Memorial Cycle, the De La Salle GAA annual fundraiser, then last weekend I “Chased a Duck” all over County Waterford!!!!!

We have read more and more Census 2016 information telling us, here in Waterford, what we already knew! Our unemployment is still proportionately far too high, when compared to the national average. Third level uptake is ridiculously low. We don’t use public transport and our disposable income is one of the lowest in Ireland.

The promised North Quay Strategic Development Zone project is still according to our Council Executive, on stream. Waterford Council has now applied for the €60-70,000,000 funding needed to kick-start this “Once-in-a-lifetime-opportunity!” We are also reading through social media spinners, that this twin-development game changer will bring untold opportunities to Waterford. There has even been talk of a cable car type gondola, across the River Suir and up to the old hotel site on the hill. Just how we will get adequate visitor numbers, to sustain such a development economically, is yet to be teased out or convince a bank to lend a developer the money!

All of the above are just some of the headline grabbers, which have been a welcomed distraction for our holidaying TDs. Whilst we have been “Enjoying ourselves” the pressure to deliver some very key pieces of infrastructure, has de-escalated.

Yes, we were fittingly reminded of what we are missing, by our “Gentleman” hurling manager. In Derek McGarth’s Monday homecoming speech, he talked about the City and County’s urgent need for a catheterisation laboratory and a university. Our Minister was within earshot, sharing the same stage with our successful hurlers!

Governments are skilled experts in constantly kicking cans down the road. Our missing catheterisation laboratory was promised far too long ago and yet still no sign of its arrival. I live within a stone’s throw of UHW, passing it every single day of the week. I hope like so many others, one day soon I will see this now mythical unit, appear in its grounds, opening its doors to reduce much needed patient waiting lists.

The sense of urgency for Waterford seems all but lost on our representatives. Surely during their long summer recess, they should have been getting together? Formulating a proactive, real-time plan, to loosen Exchequer pursue strings, before the next budget.

Collectively, we must ask them just what have they been doing, whilst away from the Dáil, to ensure the delivery of the catheterisation laboratory?

It would appear that our promised, part-time laboratory is not the only thing “Missing In Action”, in Waterford.

“The heat is on”

No, not the lyrics from that old Glenn Frey karaoke classic, from the mid nineteen eighties.

The Irish weather seems to have finally decided to turn up the thermostat. We are at long last beginning to see what many would constitute as summer! There have been blue skies spotted around the “Sunny South East” and temperatures, are eventually, ever so slowly creeping into the higher teens. This will all be very good news, for the many thousands of people coming to our hills and coastlines over the next number of weeks and months.

There can be no doubt, that the BBC drama series Redwater, a spin off from “Dum, Dum Dum...” Eastenders drama, filmed in and around Dunmore East last year, will attract additional interest in all things Waterfordorian. There are even rumours that one of the stars, Shane Richie aka Alfie Moon, is seeking to purchase a holiday home in the village? This of course might just be some good old fashioned PR, coming from one of our friendly, local auctioneers, to drum up even more interest in that village and what it has to offer? But who cares as long as it works!

Being showcased by both the national broadcasters of Ireland (RTE) and the UK (BBC), is priceless in terms of the exposure we will be given. It is up to the “Powers that be” to be ready to piggyback on this FREE publicity and push our region, as a destination of choice, to our biggest tourism market. This is of course our neighbours across the water, in the UK.

With all matters Brexit and the small issue of a General Election, becoming all consuming across the UK, we urgently need bodies such as Tourism Ireland, to get on board, pushing our region to the British holiday masses. These will be unparalleled levels of FREE, exposure. It may well be that the people of the UK will look West rather than South or East for their holidays in 2017, as the falling out with the rest of the EU continues at a pace.

We ALL need to be ready for a possible influx of UK visitors, looking to explore what Waterford has to offer on the back of this BBC One drama.

Just look at what the series Games of Thrones and Outlander have done to the local economies of these two locations. There has been extraordinary interest, in people exploring the very streets and sets, where their heroes have walked and talked. The power of a national broadcaster filming in a specific identifiable location cannot be underestimated.

It would be great to have the odd Cockney Pearly King and Queen walking around Waterford, being introduced to the rasher Blaa, our local craft beers and even Waterford phrases like “Well Boy”, “Well Girl” and “Would you look at the scut of him!” Can you just imagine the conversation they would have when they returned home to Blighty?

A “Warm Waterford Welcome” would be essential if we are to get those much vaunted TripAdvisor, five circle reviews.

At long last, we are now moving very quickly from a heavy industrial economic past, to that of a tourism economy. Having said that, our manufacturing capacity is actually still very healthy here in Waterford. We’ve many, many innovative multi-national and pioneering indigenous companies based right here. This new manufacturing is now modern, automated clean and lean.

Waterford is ever so slowly and surely beginning to reinvent itself. Quite rightly, there is so much to look forward to. Despite this, so many people have asked me over the last few weeks, about the Government’s fiscal monetary intervention, needed for the infrastructural works on the North Quay (our SDZ). There is now a realisation that if the exchequer purse strings are not loosened and €50,000,000+s are not forthcoming, the two identified game changing projects for Waterford City, may NOT materialise.

These first Swallows of Summer divert our eyes from the longer term goals. We must keep the heat up on our six national public representatives, to deliver our SDZ Euro.

The clock is well and truly ticking towards that pay day!

What if Simon says “No!”

We have already seen the appalling decision made by a certain Simon H to conveniently disregard the highly respected Higgins report on University Hospital Waterford (UHW), in favour of his own Government’s Herity Report. A Report, which we were told, if the readers can recall, was merely a formality. It was a very simple matter of ticking a few boxes, crossing some “T’s” and dotting a number of “I’s”. This would confirm what we already knew. That a second Catheterisation Laboratory for UHW should in fact be delivered, funded and built, ASAP.

But, we now know that we were sold a pup.

The second lab would not be forthcoming and to appease those Deise hordes, it was announced in Dublin, that a mobile unit would be diverted down the M9, to UHW and used to take up the “Slack”. Unfortunately, this mobile unit cannot, at the moment, seem to find its way to Waterford. To add insult to injury, this unit would be “Shared” with other just as needy regions. A big kick in the teeth to us on this matter, from Simon H!

But there would be light at the end of our dark tunnel.

We could, in the short term, forget not securing a second Catheterisation Laboratory, as good news was in fact, just around the corner. Waterford in recent weeks, has bounced back, in a big way. Wonderful, joyous and fantastic news that a €300,000,000 development of the City’s North Quays, would categorically take place, with investment of many, many Middle Eastern Riyal. In fact we would get TWO retail centres built for the price of one – happy days are ahead.

This news, in conjunction with the 2040 National Planning Framework, announced by Minister Simon C, would see accelerated development of our Strategic Development Zone (SDZ), to help double the City’s population. At last we could collectively take a breath and it now looked like Government was listening to the people of Waterford. They were actually going to put their hand in their collective pockets, to find some much needed fiscal money, to feed our economy.

Just like London buses, a third piece of good news landed on our doorstep. That hotel on the hill had finally been sold. The promise of a five star development, garden rooftop bars, largest function suite in Waterford, conference space....the list was endless.

Were we finally beginning to turn the corner? Waterford was surely on the up, or are we?

Amid much whooping and hollering we have to remember that to develop our North Quay’s SDZ we need Government money. Some say €50 million, but in Ireland that probably means that what is needed could well be in excess of €60 million, possibly €70 million. This loosening of the exchequer purse strings will not be easy. It will not be without its challenges and rest assured the political “Flat cap” clout from other regions will be doing their very, very best to divert this money elsewhere.

The bottom line is, that unless this money for the earmarked infrastructural work in our SDZ is not signed, sealed and delivered by Government. Where is this money to come from?

Waterford Council certainly do not have the funds, or the means to allocate anywhere near this level of funding. I suspect that our nearest neighbours in Kilkenny and Wexford will not be too much help either? So we are once again relying on a Government whose track record in supporting Waterford INC is to say the very least sketchy.

We have recently had one Simon saying “Yes” and one Simon saying “No”. A bit like that game we used to play as kids. An outcome completely randomly based on chance. 

Does Simon C really want Waterford City to stand any chance of doubling its population, for the betterment of the whole of the South East? Will he really get Old Father Time (Noonan), to open his dusty wallet and find €50/ €60/€70 million for this City?

The very recent delivery record for Waterford has been extremely poor. The onus is on our Junior Minister, 3 TDs and 2 Senators to now earn their stripes. 

After rolling our Easter eggs, we’ll surely have a sizzling summer!

For some, the wait for Easter was simply too much. An odd sip of Clonmel Chardonnay, or a smaller than usual glass of vino, was by all accounts just about acceptable. A wee nibble of the children’s bar of chocolate, when they were out of sight or better still asleep. Maybe even the odd raiding party on the sealed, time locked biscuit box, which has been clandestinely calling you, for the last few weeks.

After abstinence of many, many weeks, Sunday past brought welcome relief for the masses. The strange habit of devouring far, far too many chocolate eggs than you would have thought possible. Guzzling a copious quantity of alcohol was quickly followed for many, by the annual words of Solomon’s Wisdom “Never again!” Yet we can all look forward to the same purgatory, forgiveness and indulgence, in approximately 347 days time.

In the meantime, we can ALL begin to look forward to a regenerated Waterford City, with the exciting plans of the SDZ (Strategic Development Zone) on the North Quay. Sadly, no longer to be part of a bigger, better and brighter “North Waterford”. That hotel on the hill, finally being sold to a man with a vision and a passion for Waterford. The promise of a rapid build, development and delivery of the Michael Street Shopping Centre. These projects and many more, according to media accounts, will mean that we have to wait slightly longer for all our ducks to truly line up.

But in the very short term we will surely have a “Summer to savour” in 2017.

The annual Waterford City in Bloom collaboration, between Waterford Business Group and the Council, has in the past two years expanded beyond all expectations. Not to sit on their laurels, the organisers have expanded once again and this year there will be in excess of 300 baskets being displayed across the whole city. In particular, the businesses along O’Connell Street have come on board in abundance and this should be commended.

The 2016 Tidy Town judging panel, purposely singled out City In Bloom, as part of the increased points allocated to Waterford City. They also specifically stated, that they wished to see this noteworthy collaboration continue and expand for 2017. This is just what will happen over the next few years. Hopefully, in conjunction with supplementary proposals that have been presented to the Council, for a unique sculpture/display on the city centre entrance roundabout, at Plunkett Station, and a flag project that will festoon Rice Bridge with tricolours of the world – and not before time, I hear far too many of you say!

Summer In The City returns this year, after an absence of twelve months. Due in part, to the music festival that was Summerval, having been dropped from the playlist. There is a promise that this will be a return, to delivering what our populace and our visitors want. Good old street entertainment. A busking themed festival, has been much talked about. Maybe, if someone is prepared to grasp the mantle, this could take place during a future Summer In The City. Thus, expanding the offering and attracting an ever growing audience.

On the retail front we can already see business owners investing in our city centre. There are new premises opening, on what seems like a weekly basis. Many buildings are getting a fresh shiny, or matt coat of summer paint. It is great to see the variety of colour being displayed on our shop fronts. As individual as the shop products on offer.

 

The Apple Market’s new roof is taking shape and boy does it look great. Its steel frame, to this boy of the seventies, looks just like one of the Star Destroyers from the Star Wars series of films. Maybe we could ask some of the cast to officially open this multi-tasking space?

Running in tandem with the Apple Market’s brand new roof are the other open space/public realm works. These too will also transform our City to all who care to visit.

This City is at long last beginning to shout just that wee bit louder.

Selling sand to the Arabs!

The good news, gossip and social media diatribe about the significant €300 million property investment, by the Al Hokair group from Saudi Arabia, started to trickle through various media channels early last week. By Tuesday morning the local and some national media sources (not unsurprisingly in limited column inches!) sources began reporting about this “Game changer” for Waterford City, County and the wider South East region.

Behind the heavily fortified closed doors of City Hall, our 32 Councillors were given first sight of this far eastern promise, by the Council CEO Michael Walsh. Refreshment must have been provided for this late evening session, which had all the potential to drive the City out of Division One and straight back into the Premier League. No need for any more relegation battles. Surely this €300 million, in one fell swoop, would regain our position as the fourth City of Ireland?

Our 32 Councillors unanimously passed a motion, allowing the CEO to engage further with the Al Hokair group, on behalf of the City and County.

As an aside, I read one or two funny remarks on social media, asking if “All” the Councillors had backed the plan, after many a post stating the word “Unanimously”! There were also some very strange comments, completely off topic and you often have to wonder if people are actually reading the same posts?

The devil is always in the detail, with any contractual negotiation. I have no doubt that the shrewd, wealthy business people of Saudi have ALL their ducks lined up and know that a proposal, for a multi-million Euro investment into Waterford City, would be grasped with both hands and feet, for that matter. This is one gift horse, whose teeth do not have to be inspected, or do they?

Waterford City has to be seen as a prime location for investment for all manner of reasons. The main one being, that the price of land and property is just so much cheaper than any other City. Just look at RTE selling circa 9 acres of land, in D4, with a guide price of €75 million. The likely outcome is that these few golden acres will realise much, much more than the €75 million guide, as property prices are once again ballooning in all corners of the Capital (Let’s hope we don’t see another prick bursting said balloon!). The North Quays and Michael Street are a mere fraction of this price, so why would you look elsewhere?

In addition to the cost of land being very “Cheap” in Waterford, the relatively low cost of housing also reflects the current economic climate. Yes, we do get so much more for our money down here on the South East coast and this has to be a significant attractor, when tempting the likes of 1,221,887,632 Saudi Riyals to Waterford.

Let us face facts. Property developers invest in projects to make substantial sums of money and Al Hokair will be investing in Waterford, because they see a future return on their million Euro investment. The potential has always been there. It is just that we have not been able to persuade someone to speculate to this level before in Waterford.

What is for sure, is that this investment will make others aware that Waterford and the wider South East region have REAL potential.

 

As Dublin smothers in increasing housing and rental costs, regions such as Waterford, must be an attractive alternative option. Appropriate infrastructural investment, by Government, needs to be accelerated. It was great to see Minister Coveney, down here pedalling his bike on the Greenway. However, he needs to guarantee and deliver money for this City, to ensure that we are a viable alternative to Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway. Governments’ record on this is not great for Waterford, so we will need to keep the pressure on, to make sure they finally deliver.

“Selling sand to the Arabs”, was a phrase often trumpeted to me when I worked at Wembley Arena. The venue was the MUST play indoor arena for any musical act.

Wouldn’t it be great if in the next few years Waterford became such an easy sell?

All I want for Christmas!

If you have not written your Santa letter by now, you will be no doubt be waking up, on the morning of Sunday 25^th December, with the very real possibility that the bundle of presents under the tree are either not appropriate or are completely useless for you. That is of course assuming that you have been good during 2016. You therefore have been omitted from the naughty list and are due a visit from Santa in the first place.

Assuming that the majority of us are on the nice list, then we will receive some wonderfully thoughtful presents. We will no doubt be filled with the joy that giving presents also brings. We often forget that giving presents and gifts are equally important, if not more important, than the gifts we receive and this is often overlooked during the festive period.

I will no doubt wake up on Sunday morning and after saying “Happy Christmas” to the fairy on top of our tree, who this year is celebrating her 19^th year in the Garland household, hopefully I’ll find the requested pair of socks and maybe one of the more unusual bottles of Scottish malt under the tree.

As we get older the number of presents under the tree, the number of presents secretly hidden in the tree, behind sparkly tinsel and twinkly lights, diminish year by year. Even the number of cards we now post and receive, lessens each year – we are social media carders now! It is not that Christmas becomes less important as we mature, it is just that our family circumstances change, alter and we adapt to that transformation.

So what should we wish for when we look at what Waterford would ask from Santa?

I do hope, that those with the power and influence, to deliver for Waterford in 2017, have posted their letters in time for us not to be disappointed come early Sunday morning. If I had the influence to write and deliver that letter to Santa, here is what I would have asked for – not a very big list.

The Government is telling us the country is on the up and Ministers are stuffing their own constituency stockings with this extra cash. I would ask for €10 million to invest in UHW’s cardiology unit. Only circa €2.5 million needed to build the unit and circa €7.5 million to staff the unit for the next two to three years. Once it is up and running, the lives it will save, will justify all running costs.

Another €20 million to finally deliver and create a University for Waterford and the South East, including all the bells and whistles needed to attract students and increased research funding. Not a fudged, pressure delivered, hotchpotch multi-campus minestrone soup of an organisation, as being proposed by those in power. But a REAL University based and administered in Waterford City, which would clearly benefit the whole of the South East.

€25 million to develop our SDZ North Quay and Port, to drive a whole new tourism market for Waterford and the South East. If we could develop these two vital pieces of the City’s infrastructure, we could place Waterford City at the very heart of the “Ireland’s Ancient East” tourism project. Making Waterford City the 3-4 night destination stopover, which would be the anchor for exploring the whole of the South East.

Only €55 million and none of it would be in loans. This would go an awfully long way to redress the lack of focused investment in Waterford and the South East. We are at the moment seeing our hospital, our infrastructure and our third level education establishment, being ever so slowly dismantled and methodically stripped. If we are not careful these three essential pieces of infrastructure will disappear for good.

 

If we do not have strong political and public representation, fighting for every Euro of the Government investment pie, we will remain the City which always receives a present, that has been given to us as an afterthought.

Happy Christmas, hope you have been good! Happy St.Andrew’s Day as well. 

Just where is OUR money???

We have heard many a local radio news snippet, over recent months and read countless column inches in our local newspapers, about the millions of Euros promised for Waterford’s infrastructural projects. These projects were to be “game changers” that would bring some parity to the complete lack of “regional investment” over countless numbers of years.

Yet, we are now, how many weeks on, from the last General Election and can anyone honestly says we have received a €1 towards these so called “game changers”? So many political representatives indicated that these would bankroll Waterford’s economic future.

The North Quay, where work seems to have literally ground to a halt. Due, I am sure, to engineering concerns around weight loadings on the old, frail and fragile “piles” that are precariously holding up the hundreds of tons of rubble. This whole area has been designated as a Strategic Development Zone (SDZ), which is good news and I recall that €30 million had been promised and earmarked, by FG, to develop the site and link it directly to the City Centre. That was over 16 months ago!

Has any of this money actually been drawn down, excuse the banking terminology and allocated to Waterford Council to start this much needed regeneration process? I don’t recall hearing or seeing any big media fanfare announcing that the “cash” had been lodged into the Council coffers. Therefore I have to assume that NO money has yet been received for the SDZ to start and ultimately flourish.

This same sad story can be repeated at the Airport. We were promised many Euros to develop that runway, allowing larger jets access to Waterford and the 500,000 people of South East region. But, once again, not one cent of this appears to have come our way. In fact we are now being told that money is available for everything else, but the essential runway extension!

In the meantime, the people of the South East are discovering that Dublin is now much, much closer and easier to reach. The M9 has not a traffic light in sight and with the Newlands Cross flyover, the journey time to Dublin is more than manageable and predictable. The east coast N11/M11 route from Wexford is also to a large extent quicker than days of old and when the New Ross second bridge comes on stream, we will have a choice of two very fast direct routes to Dublin.

I also imagine that the business case for a consistent, less than two hour drive from Dublin to Waterford, is now working against us. Many FDI investors have far longer commute times to work! So the case for a regional airport in the south east diminishes even further. This assumption seems to carry some weight when we review the fact that only circa 6 FDI visits have taken place in Waterford this year! We seem once again to be on the road to becoming a less attractive alternative to many other cities and regions.

There is the ongoing debacle around UHW – no need to regurgitate the shambolic mess that some have created here.

So, these three are examples of promises that have not materialised. Money that had been “earmarked” for Waterford and yet none, nil, nada, zilch, seems to have been paid to us, to start our economic recovery and get our City and region booming once again!

On foot of the non-delivery of these funds, we are hearing far too many of our political representatives scoring points against each other. Rather than working out just where this alternative money might come from, they spin the “if we were in Government line”.

Why do other political regions deliver actual real infrastructure investment? Surely, all politicians have the same access to identical Civil Servants, who might just be able to point them in the right direction, explaining how to loosen the purse strings.

We are systematically being downgraded and this will continue unless we see the promised Euros coming our way to stem the tide.

Sadly, we appear to have too many King Cnuts (more commonly know as Canute).

You know it is Summer when Spraoi arrives!

As you get older the years come more and more quickly and 2016 is no exception. It seems like it was only yesterday when we were all getting excited, ready for last year’s festival and low and behold the 2016 event is now upon us.

“The Spraoi Weekend”, as it has now become known locally, takes place this Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It is so good to see that the Festival programme is bigger and better than ever. This has to be one of those very special events that Waterford people actually come out in hordes to support and I, for one, am delighted that TV and their wonderful crew are once again reconnecting Spraoi with the very heart of the City.

To me, the event works so well, with the parade winding its way down the very spine of the Waterford City. The fireworks exploding over the River Suir and of course spontaneous street theatre right across, and I mean right across, the City Centre and not confined to the VT, our leaning tower of investment!

Other organisers take note. The very best Waterford has to offer, starts by incorporating the whole of the City Centre, which in turn means the event is supported in huge numbers. Squeeze or concentrate your event(s) into the wrong areas and you get very little support. The businesses who get behind Spraoi, support Spraoi and “love” Spraoi, for it gives them back much needed footfall across the WHOLE City. It truly is a pan-City event that has, to quote James May, “the fizz” and somehow manages to capture the imagination of young and old.

We have a model for event organisation that has developed organically here in Waterford. A format that works and has adapted to changing and challenging times (financially). The event has weathered the political storms around national funding and has, I have no doubt, managed to steer through the maelstrom of local politics that is needed to ensure continued support from City Hall and the wider Council remit.

Spraoi is a Waterford success story. But sadly it is only one of a lesser breed and we need to make sure that if we wish to compete with the Galways of Ireland then we need to drag, pull and elevate our other events to a similar high level of excellence.

As I have said many a time, in print, we have the people, with the skills, we just need to get the powers that be, to make brave decisions, and actually employ the right people to deliver.

We are a small City that sometimes demonstrates a village mentality. This mould needs to be cracked and we need to step away from using the same old broken formulas, regurgitated time and time again, seeking out the right people to bring our other events up to the high standards set by Spraoi.

In fact it is not only Festivals that need our attention. Many other projects around the City need that injection of “new blood”, with innovative and creative ideas, which will drive events to another level. Yes, it is very hard for originators to let go, but to build a better brand, a better City and County, we need to do just that. If that means paying the right people, then we must find the means to do so.

When I look at the potential of where we could take Waterford, in terms of being an attractor for investment and tourism, I often wonder if I am seeing these possibilities through rose tinted glasses. Yet, when I speak Waterford people, they too can see this potential. They just do not yet have the leaders or facilitators they feel that they can follow, to deliver on what is an untapped latent potential.

Urban renewal, Michael Street Shopping Centre, SDZ on the North Quay, footbridge across the River Suir, Ireland’s Ancient East.....etc are all potential game changers for Waterford. But do we have the “drivers” in place to actually deliver for the people of this great City and County?

Enjoy Spraoi and remember to look after your City this weekend!