“Rotten apples – we’ve a barrel full of them!”

“Surprise Surprise”, as Cilla Black would once have said. Leo “The Limelight” Varadkar has with all the Wisdom of Solomon, decided to give his full backing to his embattled, beleaguered, Tánaiste, Minister Frances Fitzgerald. In many ways, he is very quickly becoming our very own version of the “Iron Lady”, Margaret Thatcher. He is very clearly “Not for turning!”

Over the last few days, right across our national media, he has repeated the same mantra, time after time, after time. He will, come hell or high water, not throw out, sack, dismiss, get rid of, abandon, or ask her to resign.

As a result, there has been nothing but incessant talk about a possible general election before Christmas. Come on Leo, we have barely had time to recover from “Trick or Treating”, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Winterval starting and the switching on of our Christmas lights. We were all beginning to feel at lot like Christmas and with one fell swoop, you have with your Scrooge “Bah humbug” attitude, put back the misery in our hearts.

If you follow through with your hard line Maggie Thatcher attitude, you will do nobody any favours. The Irish public do not want another general election and your aides, spin doctors and political advisers MUST be telling you this. Even Santa Claus, is probably writing a letter to you as we speak. You’ll be placed at the VERY TOP of his “Naughty list”, if you continue with this election threat.

I for one, don’t wish to see any politicians this side of Christmas. We want to greet carol singers knocking at our doors and not political activists, pushing regurgitated 2016 fake election promises into our face. The mood of the electorate is no election this side of Santa’s arrival. Yet once again, you seem to be ignoring the wishes of the very people who gave you the keys to the Dáil.

It now transpires, that not only did your besieged Tánaiste ignore an important email, a senior official in her department, also appears to have taken a phone call as a follow up to said email. An email, which was very conveniently forgotten by the Minister, despite the content being the hottest gossip in town.

For sure, we all make mistakes and errors of judgement, however there is a feeling that a select few are now trying to give us the run-around. Are we, the public, once again being treated like the dirt on one’s shoe?  

When this current Government and FG came to power, there were undertakings that favouritism and cronyism would be a thing of the past. That was OLD Irish politics, they said. Then Leo seized power. Grabbing the limelight and promising that there would be open transparency never seen before, in Leinster House. He very quickly rolled back on that pledge. We are now in the midst of a whirlwind of corruption, sticking two fingers up to the people of Ireland.

I am not sure there is ONE good apple in our political barrel.

Our members of the Dáil, are quite clearly prepared to do everything it takes, to greedily grab more power for their own gain. Long gone are the days, when you would throw your hat into the political arena for the betterment of your constituency. It has become more about “What’s in it for me”, rather than how can I make a real difference to the lives of the people of Ireland?

I would quite happily blacken ALL political parties with the same brush. No matter what they say in public, behind closed doors they are all the identical. All from the same malevolent gene pool. Opposition parties promise the earth, moon and stars to be elected. Yet, when and if they get in to power, their election manifesto, turns out to be a wish list, nothing more.

Will we be going to the polls before Rudolph et al, deliver Santa to your chimney, ready to sip his now customary malt whisky or even whiskey? I for one hope not.

I secretly think, that the political glitterati also wish to avoid a GE. Are they perhaps accruing a few more months on office, whilst augmenting their sizeable pensions! 

“It’s beginning to feel at lot like Christmas!”

If truth be told, that Christmas feeling seems to begin earlier and earlier each year. In fact, it appears to start right after Halloween. Once all the reduced in price “Trick or treat” paraphernalia, such as vampire costumes, werewolf masks, gory face paint, sickly marshmallow sweets and monkey nuts are gone, they’re gone.

Tinsel, baubles and Christmas trees, miraculously come out as if by magic! Even the BIG man from the North, invites us to make a list, before “Black Friday” gets us all excited whilst maxing out our credit cards. Make no bones about it, we succumb to commercialisation all too easily. Even Santa’s hard working wee elves are not immune to modern day pressures.

We can see evidence of Waterford making its annual Christmas statement, with the return of Winterval and Santa switching on the lights, on Friday 17^th November. This will take place in the heart of the City Centre. Supported live on air by WLR FM. All this exciting action will take place between John Robert’s Square and The Apple Market.

You may also have noticed that preparations are well under way, ready for the official Winterval Festival launch.

A huge vintage Ferris wheel has located itself on The Quay, opposite Shaw’s Department Store. You may just have seen the structure being erected last weekend. This is apparently, the largest mobile in Ireland. Offering passengers a unique perspective of the City and unparalleled views across the River Suir. Just remember to wrap up and maybe bring a warm blanket when going on this, as you wouldn’t wish to have a cold for Christmas day.

Winterval’s very successful ice rink, has of course moved to a bigger, better, new location, the Waterside Car Park, previously the old gas works. This will allow not one but two ice rinks to be operated. There will be the usual large rink and a smaller rink, to encourage the wee ones to take up ice skating. This makes a lot of sense. Previously, the mix of giddy teenagers trying to impress one another, caused many a collision and safety concerns for the smaller members of our community.

The move has caused some consternation, stoked of course by social media. One or two Facebook posts, indicating that the rink was NOT returning! In reality this has given the new operators lots of free publicity, creating a frisson of excitement. Will the new rink deliver a little bit extra this year?

The Apple Market, Waterford’s newest outdoor venue, continues to programme fresh, innovative exciting events. There will be a Christmas village located here, lots of live music and maybe even the opportunity to have an interactive snowball fight!

With so much going on, I do wonder, if these Christmassy distractions, will encourage those who represent us, to have some down time? After all, our Santa list for Waterford Inc. is not that big, is it?

Well yes it is!

The Cath Lab resolution must be at the top of Waterford’s long standing Christmas wish list. However, the recently published “Terms of reference”, appear, “Surprise, surprise”, to be anti-Waterford. Why, one wonders, do we have to start every process quite literally on the back foot! Surely, someone, given the record of reports for Waterford, had to be influencing the terms of reference, before they were published and NOT after.

University status for WIT, has been kicked so far down the road, that yet another generation of secondary level school leavers are missing out and having to travel many kilometres to go to a third level university. Waterford Airport has had no commercial flights for nearly 20 months and Government has been very quiet on the funding for our North Quays. This wish list, despite numerous opportunities, would have allowed Ireland’s Three Wise Men (Varadkar, Donohoe and Coveney) to be the bearers of gifts, our Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh.

There is much to look forward locally this festive season. Waterford will no doubt be supported regional by many a Christmas shopper and visitor.

I hope that these Dublin centric elves, don’t forget us and remember to deliver the odd present or two, to kick start our 2018.

Whoopee, my 100th Blog! Who would have guessed I could have lasted so long?

It’s Christmas time!

Nollaig Shona, Nadolig Llawen, Joyeux Noël, Fröhliche Weihnachten and as we say in Scotland Merry Christmas!

Yes, yes, yes, there are only a few days left, until the Big Man dressed in red, creeps down your chimney in the middle of the night, wanders around your house, whilst you are asleep, eats your food, deposits a few presents and then leaves! Now if you think about that, logically, that’s weird and unsettling. But, “Hey Ho!” it is Christmas time and this is the only time of the year when our houses are open season for a stranger to simply waltz in.

I hope that all your letters have been sent and posted on time, by snail mail. Reaching those wee elves, who work tirelessly, 24-hours-a-day, making millions of toys, in time for a delivery deadline date of 25th December.

It is by all accounts, an impossible task, but so was The Donald winning the US Presidential elections and we all know what happened there!

2016 was a great year for news and stories. It has also been a sad year, with so many wonderful people, stars and friends passing away.

Politically, the year I think, can be defined by the death of opinion polls. The pollsters getting it unbelievably wrong in the Irish, UK and US elections and as for the Brexit predictions – well I imagine that those guys will be working in Santa’s sweatshop next year. Just what were they doing when they were “canvassing the opinion of the people?” Either everyone was being two-faced or they were making it all up!

In Waterford, we had our very own Neville Chamberlain moment, of September 1938 and the euphoria of waving an A4 letter, when returning from that Munich meeting. Our newly appointed Minister was also saying there would be “peace of our time”, as we were told that, “I will deliver, with bells and whistles, 24-hour cardio care for UHW, despite the need for a specialist report!” Then along came Herity and in July, delivered something completely different. Now where in the annals of history have we read that before?

Keeping the WWII theme, the escalating boundary dispute, between the Councils of Waterford and Kilkenny, has seen thousands of column inches written, particularly in the last week. The pens for hire have had a field day liking the “land grab” to Mr A. Hilter invading Poland! Now, I am no

history expert, but Germany invading Poland and Waterford Council taking over the administration of, a wee bit of Kilkenny are poles (excuse the pun) apart. It does make good reading though and I suppose, those headlines, also sell newspapers – the ultimate aim of the hacks!

I still believe that we have missed a huge opportunity, to build our own wall, by using the rubble from the flour mills, as in “The Great Escape”. Using the people of Waterford to carry the rubble, across the bridge, in their trousers and dump, strategically, along the proposed new border frontier line. Alas, we have missed the chance and now await on yet another report on the future of Waterford, again, completely out of our hands.

My quote of the year has to be from Mr Des O’Keeffe, partner of the sadly departed and yet never to be forgotten Billy McCarthy. During Billy’s funeral eulogy, Des stated, “I even whispered in his (Billy’s) ear that Donald Trump had won the US election, in the hope that the fright would wake him up!!!” With all the pressure associated in delivering a tribute to the one you love, we were all amazed, that in addition to the fortitude and strength Des showed, he could also share such a humorous and intimate moment. All in attendance knew that Billy would have appreciated the sentiment.

On a personal note, I do hope that over the past year you have enjoyed my wee column, as much as I have enjoyed writing for you.

So, as we move ever nearer to the morning of 25th December and that mad one hour of tearing open presents, I wish you ALL a very Merry Christmas and of course a Happy Hogmanay.

Wonderfully Odd Waterford!

Last Sunday was a strange one for me.

It started early on Sunday morning, with me furiously trying to sew a rather old and tired Santa hat, on to the top of my helmet (cycling!). Now, I would never confess to be a dab hand at sewing and judging by the many, many Heath Robinson repairs to socks, cycling bibs, even an old Scotland patch on my winter tights. I would never make the televised stages of the BBC’s Sew Bee programme! Being the thrifty Scot I am, it is in my DNA to try and save something, prior to eventually having to toss it into the correctly coloured plastic receptacle.

Having somehow secured Santa’s hat, I then had to in some way attach a pair of Dame Edna Everage’s, Christmas themed, glasses to my actual cycling glasses. All manner of tools were arranged on the breakfast table – snippers, cable ties, scissors, rubber bands, string and so on. In the end I gave up. I simply laid Dame Edna’s glasses over my existing pair. This of course reduced my visibility by 50% causing excruciating neck pain, as I strained many a muscle, to twist my head to silly angles to simply see where I was going.

 

Next was a scarf of tinsel. Simple in design and yet visually stunning. Well, so I thought until it was pointed out to me that the sliver shiny stuff was getting tangled up in my back wheel and could, in all likelihood, toss me off the bike whilst traversing the Tramore Road.

The reason for all the dressing up was of course, you’ve guessed it, the annual Biscuit Club Santa Cycle – Waterford to Tramore and back to Waterford, via the Christmas Carousel in John Robert’s Square.

Every variety of Christmas onesie was on display on Saturday morning. There was many a Santa, a few Reindeers, some elves and of course lots of twinkly lights, flashing hats and enough tinsel to wrap several trees.

The Santa Run, sounding like an old WWII codename for a secret bombing mission, was great fun and light-hearted. It was also amazing to see so many motorists beeping their horns, waving and acknowledging our dressing up efforts. Maybe this is the way to answer that age old car versus cycling rivalry – sharing the road and being happy in our own space!

Onto the carousel, then breakfast, a wee raffle, a prize-giving, lots of laughs, then off home to shower and onto part two of my second last Sunday, before the Big Man dressed in red arrives.

Into The Book Centre to meet our three judges, Mary O’Neill, Phil Brennan and Hazel Farrell, for the annual Waterford Business Group’s Winter Wonderbands.

You may well have seen and heard, three wonderful bands playing across the City, in performance areas that included; outside The Book Centre, George’s Street and Cathedral Square. The three bands taking part this year were the De La Salle Scout Pipe Band, City of Waterford Brass and Brass Band New Ross.

To hear such wonderful music popping up around our City Centre, at this festive time of year, added so much to our visitors’ experience of Winter in Waterford City. I heard so many people saying that the bands were “brilliant”, “stunning” and “why don’t we have this in our town?” There were people taking photographs and videos to capture the moment in time. Waterford has come up with this concept and we need to drive on with this winning formula, to bring it to the next level.

There can be no doubt that we have a City, County and region that are blessed with talented musicians. The task of separating the three bands proved extremely difficult for the judges. In the end the 2016 winners were announced as the City of Waterford Brass. We do hope that the 2017 event will expand and attract between 6 and 9 bands to the City next year.

So, my second last shopping Sunday before Christmas started off on a road bike, wearing festive themed Lycra and ending with sweet music.

Only in Waterford, could such an odd combination work so well!

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.