Take a bow Billy McCarthy, RIP – 1954 to 2016.

The final curtain call.

It is with a very heavy heart, that I heard on Sunday the 20^th November, of the passing of Billy McCarthy, broadcaster on Deise AM, at WLR FM. After a very short illness Billy passed away at University Hospital Waterford.

I first met Billy when I was appointed as CEO of Waterford Chamber and I have to say that there are very few people who you meet in this world, who you instantly take a shine to. There are even fewer people that you genuinely know would be there for you in a crisis, if called upon. Billy was one of those rare people.

He managed to come into your car, living room and kitchen when on the radio. His broadcasts were so personal, you almost felt like he was sitting right next to you and sharing a cup of tea with you, in the comfort of your own home. There are very few who had this magical gift and there can be no doubt that Billy was one of the very best that Ireland and Waterford has ever produced.

Testament to his talent, can be seen in the many thousands of social media messages written over the last few days. Everyone has a very personal message for Billy’s passing and a story that touched their heart.

The UK had Terry, Dublin has Joe and Waterford had Billy.

He really was that good and I for one, have met so many people who instantly smile when you mention what Billy meant to them. I wonder just how many people are able to do that in life let alone in death.

Evidently, Billy was born to be Waterford’s “People’s Champion” and he took to this challenge with gusto, verve and a determination. He had no fear in tearing strips off our representatives for not doing enough for his beloved City and County. He chased for answers like the proverbial dog with a bone. If he could not get hold of the said politician, he was not frightened to let his adoring listeners know that they were hiding! No stone would be unturned in him trying to get the right solutions his Waterford listeners deserved.

Yet, for the next programme segment he would become sympathetic, caring and empathetic. He could switch in an instant and make that transition so seamlessly we just never noticed. The mark of this man was that he did everything so well, for the pure benefit of the listeners.

He was of course, supported by so many professional WLR FM colleagues. In particular Jennifer Long, who produced Billy’s shows. This deadly duo created so many broadcasting moments and memories you could literally fill several hundreds of newspapers with their in depth investigative journalism. I am sure that the whole WLR/Beat team will miss Billy dearly.

For me, Billy’s laugh will be one of his defining memories. A laugh that was instantly recognisable and infectious.

I an era when so much of our lives are played out on social media, every morning, Billy managed to speak regularly to over 20,000 listeners on a daily basis. His listening figures were astonishing and enormous, bearing in mind the many ways open to us in getting our news.

Young and old would tune in every morning at 10 am, to Deise AM, to join Billy in talking about all matters current, regional, national and local. Billy’s passing will leave a huge void in so many of our lives and he will be impossible to replace.

Our radios will be much quieter from now on and yet none of us who knew Billy will forget his radio tones. He lived through a changing Ireland. Seeing and campaigning for the marriage equality referendum, which was so close to his heart.

Our thoughts are with Des and his family through this very difficult time.

Yes, we will miss you Billy McCarthy, but you will never be forgotten. Each and every one of your friends, colleagues and listeners will always remember the moment you touched their hearts.

RIP Billy McCarthy – 1954 to 2016. 

Good News - Winter is just around the corner!

The end of Autumn, according to the meteorological calendar, is the 30^th November, which also happens to be St.Andrew’s Day, the patron saint of Scotland. Though, we do not quite have such an energetically celebrated festival, as that afforded to St.Patrick, here in Ireland and around the world. In fact we do very little to celebrate this day and in terms of turning the world blue we do not hold a patch on you guys, when you, year after year manage to turn the whole world green on 17^th March. Maybe one day!

With Autumn over, wonderful Winter quickly follows suit and I must say, that this is one of my favourite times of the year. Getting out on a very crisp cold morning, for a brisk, effervescent walk, or short sharp ride in my lurid Lycra, does me the world of good. It clears my head, refreshing my mind about all the good things we have here on our doorstep, in wonderful Waterford.

So, whichever way you package it, there really is so much to look forward to this Winter.

Over the last week, we have seen a mini retail tsunami, with new retailers opening in Ireland’s oldest City Centre. There have been queues and queues of young ladies, waiting patiently in line to buy lippy, liner, lashes, and much, much more, from a new “all things makeup” brand, that has opened in City Square Shopping Centre. This hysteria follows hotfoot (excuse the pun), on the back of a new shoe brand, which has rightly chosen Waterford City as its south east flagship store. These two brands will certainly add to our retail offering and are excellent news, just in time for Christmas.

The retail expansion over the last few weeks has continued to improve, through the work of some stakeholders and in particular, the committee members of the Waterford Business Group. They have been working tirelessly away in the background, making personal contacts, speaking to and encouraging the relocation of brands to our City Centre. We cannot underestimate the volume of voluntary work undertaken on our behalf, to make Waterford a better place.

Hopefully, T & H will be opening soon and the planning issues being encountered by several other brands, will be resolved in a positive light. Thus, adding significantly to our and our visitors’ retail experience of the City Centre. The more attractive and unique our City Centre becomes, the better the shopping fulfilment will be for everyone.

Of course Winter in Waterford, now comes with Winterval attached too. Incidentally, a name Mr McCarthy, at WLR, has difficulty liking! I heard him mention this on Friday’s programme and he might be right, as Mrs Garland too has difficulty with the name. Anyway, Winterval will be back on our streets on 25^th November, a week later than last year and this will also be the date for the switching on, of our Christmas lights. This sparked much debate last week and I for one, believe that the third Friday in November is the correct switching on, of the lights and the start of our Christmas retail period. This change of date, at the behest of whom and with no consultation with our retailers, has put us a week behind our competitors. Bah Humbug!

I have no doubt that there are plans afoot, to do something special on Friday 18^th November. This should be the lights on date. To this extent keep an eye on the local press for further details. Now that’s the spirit of Christmas, giving something back to the people of Waterford!

So, there is much to look forward to in Waterford. We inevitably start the countdown, to that big red, beardy one, coming down the chimney. Delivering all manner of weird, wonderful and unwanted presents. Top of MY present wish list, are lower Council car parking rates for ALL!

Remember that the bountiful few weeks in the run up to Christmas, may well account for up to 30% of our local businesses annual turnover.

Shop smart, shop local, shop Waterford!

One year on!

It has been one year since I started writing my wee column in the Waterford Today. WOW, time does fly as you get older!

I switched from another “Waterford” free sheet, due to the fact that it was not really being produced in Waterford. As a “blow-in”, who is passionate about Ireland’s Oldest City, I was very conscious that to be supporting the “Made in Waterford” brand, I had to be contributing to a Waterford produced product. A chat with Paddy (The Editor) Gallagher and we agreed a seamless transfer to Waterford Today. A publication that has a small, but significant, tagline that you may never even have noticed - “ABC accredited circulation”.

It is funny that having worked, so many years ago, for the exhibition arm of a European publishing company, that literally sold hundreds of thousands of pounds of monthly advertising, I would once again understand the significance of Audit Bureau of Circulation figures. These are figures that detail just how many people are reading a particular publication.

Sometimes, you do wonder if such stated figures are correct. But, judging by the number of people who do tell me that they read my wee column, on a regular basis, I have to assume that, in the case of Waterford Today, their readership numbers are extremely high and reflective of the ABC accreditation.

That is good news for me. As I know that when the newspaper arrives through your letterbox or is collected at your local newsagent, you will read this and share with other family members in the household. Yes, I also publish the article as a blog and this in turn is shared through the Waterford Business Group and the Ferrybank Newsletter (both on Facebook). These additional outlets give the article extremely high readership numbers and for that I am eternally thankful and, well, surprised and humbled.

To have the opportunity to speak one’s mind, through the medium of print, without the need to hide behind a pseudonym, is a wonderful opportunity to spark debate and openly discuss significant issues. As can be seen from the reaction to my recent article on Summerval. Front page headlines in one weekly newspaper and headline billing on Deise AM!

The point of such articles is to inform, you, members of the general public, by making more

transparent the information that is readily available to you, but is perhaps deliberately difficult to find. For Waterford to move forward we do need more inclusiveness and this starts with early engagement and a more open communication flow. Something that we in Waterford are, if the truth be told, not particularly good at.

There appears to be a communication block when it comes to getting many a vital message across. Maybe, the people of Waterford have just switched off to the current crop of communicators, as they feel that they are constantly being spun. Or perhaps the way that the information, deigned to be divulged, is being packaged is wrong, inappropriate and written in gobbledegook. The messaging becomes irrelevant because it is presented very poorly.

An advert on local radio does not reach ALL the masses. A notice in the local papers is NOT always read. A leaflet left in a public building is NOT always picked up, and so on.

To get any message across and understood you need a combination of many resources. Perhaps the one most forgotten about and most powerful is face to face interaction. Nothing beats “wearing out the old shoe leather” when you need to maximise communication messaging.

My wee column, “Waterford Business Matters”, is my contribution to help readers understand the many, many, issues that I see face the City, County and SE Region. If we do not know the issues then we cannot tackle the source of our problems.

Economically and socially we are in a very tough place and I feel that we need to be more open, honest and frank with our discussions on how to make Waterford so much better for EVERYONE.

Roll on the next 12 months.

Boyle’s Law – life in a vacuum!

Lismore “Boy”, Robert William Boyle, was an inventor, alchemist, chemist and physicist. He was actually born in Lismore Castle, to the 1^st Earl of Cork. He led a privileged life and was sent to Eton College, England, to be educated at the very highest level and also spending time at Oxford. He published his own law, Boyle’s Law, around 1662. Because I paid no attention to “Big Jim Skull”, my Bell Baxter High School secondary teacher, I have absolutely no idea what use Robert’s Law does in today’s world. Or for that matter if I have ever used or come across his law – but I am sure I must have!

I do know that he worked with pressure, gases and vacuums. His worksheets, papers and books are all kept in The Royal Society archives. Vacuums were just great things, in the old chemistry lessons, and we all remember blowing up balloons, by sucking ALL the air out of that bell shaped glass vacuum.

We heard last week that the planning permission for the proposed Michael Street Shopping Centre development was also granted. Lecturer at WIT, Mr Ray Griffin, producer of a recent excellent WIT economic report on Waterford’s potential, was on WLR FM talking about the need for this development to go ahead. As we now expect, when we hear from Mr Griffin, he says it as he sees it, and he let the listeners know that we have been in a political vacuum for a number of years. This has contributed significantly to Waterford’s lack of actual real development.

Some might say that these were harsh words, however I totally agree with his accurate description. We have endemic problems that are not being addressed and until such times as we dig deep and see what needs to be changed, then change will not be made.

Whilst we are not living in a complete vacuum, we are to a greater extent, being pressurised by others, with greater political clout, to feed off the crumbs from the Department of Finance’s funding trough. But alas, we have been in the same political vacuum for many, many years and we do not seem to be getting any further forward? Are we just willing to accept yet another 3 or 5 years of others deflating our balloon?

Only a few months ago we heard that funding would be available for the airport, the hospital would get X, Y and Z, investment would be made in the City which would transform our economic future. The clock has been ticking very quickly since the last general election and now we have no more commercial flights in or out of Waterford Airport, the report on our hospital needs is now overdue, what is happening to our “University” bid and whilst other cities win European funding we are once again left wondering – “Did that really just happen!”

I cannot imagine Cork, Limerick or Galway standing back and accepting the same lack of funding that isn’t coming to the Sunny South East. We know that their political super heavyweights would simply NOT agree to anything else but the development of their City and Towns. They have political clout that is not affected by pressure and, trust me, they do not work in a vacuum.

Our competition box clever and fight for every Euro and cent that might just make their constituents’ life that wee bit better. They bang the table, have the ear of Kenny and Noonan, they threaten political revolt and have the cajones to barter a better deal for the very people that vote them into power.

Robert Boyle was a visionary of his time, with many, many sceptics who questioned his work and his findings. But Robert ploughed on regardless and is remembered as one of the founders of modern chemistry. 

Maybe we need to rekindle that “never say die attitude”, that Robert showed in his work, and make sure that we develop Waterford, not in a vacuum, but as part of our resurgent Sunny South East.

The last thing we need is another wee p*”@k bursting our balloon.

Lashings of Ginger Beer!

I was lucky enough to return to the local airwaves last weekend and appear on the panel of WLR’s Maria McCann’s Sunday review show, known as “The Week”. My fellow panel guests were Brain Swift and Tadgh Williams. I also brought, to share, some salted caramel cookies, which appear to have been a favourite of Maria’s – future guests please take note!

Some say I have the perfect face for radio! What I do know, is that not only do I appear to sound like Shrek on the radio, with my retreating hairline I am beginning to look, well facially at least, like the big green ogre as well!

The review of news from the week that was, was lively, direct, straight talking, humorous (I hope) and expertly directed, as usual, by our host Maria. During the review we discussed many topics and subjects. Naturally we also talked politics.

A challenge was laid down to our four sitting TDs and our newest Senator – our very own “Famous Five!”

The Famous Five were of course a series of children’s adventure books, written by Enid Blyton. The Five in question being Julian, Anne, Dick, George and of course George’s dog, known as Timmy.

These Five would get together in the County of Dorset. Every summer holiday recess, upon returning from their various boarding schools dotted around the country. Embarking on many an unlikely adventure in the twenty plus books penned by the author. No matter what difficult challenges lay ahead, these Five would inevitably succeed and do what was necessary to “get the job or task done!” There was no second guessing, they just rolled up their sleeves and literally got stuck in. With a vim and vigour that would put most adults to shame.

Their adventures would later make our silver screens in the mid eighties as a Channel Four spoof series, from “The Comic Strip Presents”. Adrian Edmondson, Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders and Peter Richardson would play the lead roles. This tongue in cheek homage to the original stories would parody Blyton’s books and in a cruel twist of modernisation they added racism to the children’s characters, sexisms and even managing to incorporate some extremely right-wing political views!

With our continued regional position at the top of the third tier of Ireland’s economic recovery, supported by the recent quarterly figures, showing a rather alarming 12.5% unemployment rate across the South East region. Radical thinking is needed in order to drag Waterford, kicking and screaming, and the wider south east region out of the malaise that we find ourselves in.

It was with this background, that the panel on Sunday’s radio show came up with the novel idea that perhaps, just perhaps, we could ask “Our Famous Five” to come together and champion the three, four or five key economic issues/drivers for Waterford, and the wider region?

To do this they would have to ditch the dinosaur party politics that have failed us and come to the table, to work together, for the betterment of the City, County and ultimately the wider geographical region. A region that has once again been left short of a full Ministerial Portfolio, from the cabinet shuffle and therefore we will still be feeding off the occasional crumb thrown to us from the top table!

This type of giant step political thought needs bravehearts and committed political resolve to barter a better deal for the very electorate that put an “X” on the ballot paper way back in late February.

Richardson, Saunders, Edmondson & French.

I would happily facilitate and take the chair at this meeting. In my capacity as Chair of the Waterford Business Group, with no political affiliations or, being apolitical in this instance. When we see other regional TDs banding together and racing ahead of Waterford and the south east, we need “Our Famous Five” to step up to the plate and I am happy to help get this ball rolling!

“A clown needn't be the same out of the ring as he has to be when he's in it.” Enid Blyton.

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.

The countdown is well and truly on!

A Countdown conundrum!

A little over one week to C-Day and joy of joys the City Centre, last weekend, had a steady flow of people alternating between the spine of the City, the Barronstrand Street, John Robert’s Square, Broad Street, Michael Street and Applemarket axis, and the Viking Triangle area, with a few popping up the hill to take in the winter offerings in and around Ballybricken.

I believe that the whole offering last Sunday was exceptional and after an unspeakable spell of very bad weather many people and many visitors took respite after storm Desmond, and committed to going out prior to the next storm Eva arriving, to come into the City Centre and sample Waterford at Christmas.

2015 is in fact my fifteenth Christmas in Waterford and over these last fifteen years I have witnessed the City grow in stature as a destination for Christmas shoppers. These much needed and very welcomed shoppers are the lifeblood of many of our businesses and the festive period is probably one of the few times of the year where a profit can actually be made.

Many of our businesses can be operating on margins as low as 5% and that means the tills need to ring at an ever faster pace in order to make enough margin to see businesses through the barren and lean months of January and February that follow the flurry of Christmas activity.

There was much on offer on Sunday 13^th December and one of the highlights had to be the Winter Wonderbands competition that saw the City of Waterford Brass lift the inaugural Waterford Business Group sponsored trophy.

Jubilant City of Waterford Brass.

The concept saw three of our City’s finest, the City of Waterford Brass, De La Salle Scouts Pipe Band and the Thomas Francis Meagher Fife and Drum Band, compete across three performance areas located in Broad Street, Applemarket and the Bishop’s Palace. The whole event was supported by WLR FM’s outside broadcast unit and a running update was given live on air throughout the afternoon.

At just after 3pm the winners were announced and after much whooping and hollering interviews with the judges and band members took place live on air. This event will return in 2016 with perhaps as many as ten competing bands and in 2017 the whole event has the potential to become a national event taking in both a Saturday and a Sunday.

Winter Wonderbands was part of a promoted “Shop Local Sunday” commitment and it gave those who ventured into the City Centre something a little bit extra special and it also gave three of our City bands the opportunity to showcase themselves to a whole new market audience.

The reaction to the competition was priceless. With mums, dads, kids, and grandparents all stopping to sing, tap their feet, dance and jump around with excitement as one after another our favourite Christmas tunes were energetically played by all the band members concerned. Whilst it is very difficult to solely judge three very different bands one of the criteria for judging was audience participation and all three bands made a monumental effort to get their audience involved.

Calvin's logic.

A very high bar has now been set as many visitors to the City thought that this type of activity was the norm for Waterford at Christmas. I have no doubt that many will have left Waterford last weekend wishing they lived here and after what was on offer who can blame them for thinking that way.

It often takes an “outsider’s eyes” to remind us just what we have to offer and so many visitors to Waterford see a wonderful compact medieval City that is both big enough and yet small enough to enjoy.

Our challenge will be to continue that offering far beyond C-Day and ensure our City grows and expends at a rapid pace. The solid foundations are there we just need to give a few people a gentile New Year kick in the ass to remind them what is needed. 

Don’t Leave It All To The Loudmouths!

Loudmouth - we all know one or two.

The City’s Urban Renewal Plans are now available for everyone, and I mean everyone, to view and more importantly they are accessible for every one of us to comment on. The Council have literally opened their doors so that they can engage with the People of Waterford on the renewal of their own City. It is a once in a lifetime opportunity.

It is such a landmark consultation process that I heard one senior Council official commented that “We are going to go to a lot of trouble to consult with the public”, so we have heard it from the proverbial horse’s mouth that we as Waterford citizens have been invited to play our part in the whole process.

From all the publicity reported by our excellent local newspapers and the snippets I have heard on WLR FM it appears on the surface that this is a genuine invitation to ALL Waterford citizens and it really is an opportunity not to be missed.

But actually how many of us will go that extra mile and make the effort to attend the briefing sessions, consult the Council website, engage with our local Councillors and just how many of us will submit a written report or written observation or express a reservation for that matter?

Too long in the tooth.

I may be too long in the tooth to really believe that there will actually be a full, frank and open public consultation process because in the real world this never ever, ever happens. The process of consultation is itself flawed and self-fulfilling as only the people with an interest in the project will actually come forward with their own views and opinions. It is almost certain that the majority of people and businesses who may be adversely affect by any proposed developments or street alterations will be the lone voices that speak up. The rest of us may take a passing interest but more often than not there will be an absolutely tiny percentage of the population that will submit their or their pier groups’ combined observations and concerns. 

Only those who can actually be bothered to get their arse in gear will in reality make an effort to engage in this process.

R. Lee Ermey.

This is course is NOT what we should be doing!!!!!

If Waterford City is to be redeveloped for the benefit of Waterford, its People and the better economic benefit of the South East we ALL need to start getting involved in the Urban Renewal Plans and I would recommend that people start that process NOW!

To be fair to our Metropolitan Councillors, at their last meeting, they to a man and a woman were very engaged in the process and debated very strongly with the Council Executive. Whilst, being told on the one hand that the Council did not really have to consult with anyone on plans that involved road changes or road alterations. They all expressed concern at the lack of information that was being feed to them and to a certain extent they were all very aware that information was “going public” without their knowledge.

This of course puts our Councillors in the unenviable position of possibly being asked questions about plans they know nothing about, which will make them look silly through no fault of their own. At the very least if the People of Waterford are being asked to connect with the process then our Councillors must be forearmed and forewarned with ALL the necessary information and they need to be brought up to speed through a series of in-house workshops. This I hope will happen as I have no doubt our Councillors will have an increased workload to facilitate this process.

The bottom line is that we the citizens of Waterford City need to make our voices heard and we all need to make a commitment to at the very least view the proposed plans so that we can be educated as to how any changes will alter the very foundations of our Medieval City.

As I see it we need to ask ourselves some very basic questions;

• Will these modern plans really fit the fabric of what is after all an ancient City with an ancient road network and an ancient foundation/layout?
• Are changes being made for the sake of making changes?
• Will the changes drive footfall up in the City Centre and therefore allow businesses to flourish and increase employment?
• Will the changes encourage the people of Waterford to come back into their City Centre?
• Should we develop the Michael Street Shopping Centre and its environs first and then reassess any future development plans?
• Is the additional traffic calming and the removal of a significant numbers of off-street parking spaces a solution to bringing more people into the City Centre?

It really does not matter if you agree with the above questions or not. The simple fact is that if you are concerned about the City’s future NOW is the time to voice your opinion.

Do not leave it to the people who shout the loudest as they a more often than not wrong!

Mayor's Walk proposition.

Waterford Council website details on Urban Renewal is as follows: www.waterfordcouncil.ie/en/Resident/Planning/Forward,Planning/Urban,Renewal/

Road to ruin for your car or bike!

For those who have been reading this blog for some six months now will know that in the last year I have quite openly come out and I am now a MAMIL (Middle Aged Man In Lycra)!

Yes, I have taken up road cycling with the Waterford Biscuit Club and I have somehow now become one of those people on a bike that one way or another seem to infuriate some of our vehicular brethren.

I have read and heard about cyclist hating drivers’ texting, emailing and commenting on programmes such as Deise AM, in recent weeks, and also passing sentencing on cyclist in line with Minister Donohoe’s new fines for us MAMIL’s.

Readers who know me more intimately will know that I am a self-confessed petrol head and I have raced XR2’s around Knockhill and also owned all manner of interesting cars from a 1964 Mini Cooper S, Triumph Dolomite Sprint, MKII Escort Mexico, Escort Turbo, Astra GTE and so on right through to my current generation one Mini Cooper S – I really have had the whole gamut of boy racer cars and some say I am still driving one today (midlife crisis maybe)!

Whilst, I do agree that there are some poor cyclists on our roads I see proportionately far more very bad drivers who still insist on using their mobile phones, I see children not suitably restrained in the front and backs of cars, people who treat a roundabout as a “squareabout”, people who ignore the speed restriction signage and above all I see lots of very angry people in vehicles who are quite plainly one hoot of their horn away from a serious road rage incident!

The fact is that everyone who is entitled to use our roadways and laneways should do so with the utmost respect for other road users. And yes this might mean having to lift the occasional hand to say sorry rather than flicking one or two other digits at an offending road user. Life is far too short to be Mr Angry all the time and to be honest it does take far more effort and concentration to be the ubiquitous “I don’t believe it!” grumpy Mr Victor Meldrew rather than a Mr Happy.

All local road users share the same tarmac or in the case of the roads in Waterford City I would imagine we share some of the worst road surfaces in the whole of Ireland!

I travel in and out to the City Centre on most days of the week in my wee Mini Cooper S and due to the hard suspension and low profile tyres I feel every bump and hole in the patch work quilt that we now call the Dunmore Road. Yes, I understand that the roadwork’s are a necessity and that at some time in the very far, far future the surface will allegedly be remedied but we all know that the surface will NEVER be returned to resemble what is was prior to the road works starting. We will end up with a rubbish surface that needs and demands constant future attention and expensive Council resources.

However, I did not quite realise just how bad the Dunmore Road surface had become until I had the misfortune of cycling up it last Sunday with fellow Biscuit Ian. I would describe the experience similar to hiking in the Alps or Munro bagging in Scotland. To justify the surface as a “road surface” is to say the very least stretching the boundaries of the definition of both of these words. To make matters worse I have recently upgraded my “shite bike” and now ride a thoroughbred steed and naturally enough I wish to look after this bike and I believe that sometimes the road surfaces around the City must be damaging my bike, my car and me!

 

From the People’s Park to Ardkeen roundabout is patchwork quilt of varying surface materials, lots of very big lumps and some huge bumps, sharp edges that will tear at tyres and alloy wheels, gravel and loose material that has simply been swept into the cycle lane, drain and form edges that stand proud of the road and a whole myriad of other issues that should be of concern to every vehicular and cycle users alike.

I cannot for one minute accept that what we are currently being asked to navigate on is tolerable to any road users and you have to wonder if the people in charge of this engineering catastrophe actually use this road for their daily commute. And as for the radio adverts asking people to find alternative route well I am sorry but this is Waterford and not London and there are NO alternative routes especially when school term time is upon us and the airing of these advert seems to be a simple box ticking statutory exercise.

Also, remember that this road is THE gateway to our coastal villages and sandy beaches and in many respects our shop window to and from the City. This is one of the main arteries that feeds our City and brings commerce into and out of the City Centre. The Dunmore Road is also the main access route that cuts a swath right through the City Centre to access all parts north, northwest and east of Waterford City.

During these summer months and weeks just how many visitors, tourists or cruiser liner visitors will travel this route in and out of our City Centre and wonder if they are in fact travelling on some sort of third-world dirt track road when they should be one of the smoothest surfaces available to vehicular traffic?

This the wrong impression we will be giving the very people who we need to come to Waterford to spend their money directly into our local economy? As we are lagging so far behind other tourism destinations do we not have to be ahead of the game and constantly be better than our competitors.

If we are collectively promoting a positive message around our wonder coastline, our heritage, our culture and so on, the very least we can do is ensure that the roads that people need to travel on to access these attractions needs to be up to par and unfortunately they are not.

Is it acceptable that at the height of our tourist season we are willing to accept the “Boys from the Blackstuff” finish? Albeit a temporary finish, we are told, but as temporary finishes go this has to be atrocious, appalling, inexcusable and is it in fact an intolerable surface for any of us to use?

As our shop window to the City and the County the Dunmore Road is at the moment the worst window display you will ever see and we have to ask just what are we saying about our City if we find this surface appropriate?

I have a feeling that just as Minister Donohoe’s new cycling fines will see lots of Lance Armstrong’s now living in the City the Dunmore Road will remain a navigational nightmare until such times as the whole road is resurfaced perfectly.

We really have such a long way to go to get the simplest of things right.

Ireland's Ancient East needs to deliver today!

On Thursday 25^th June I was kindly invited, by Minister Paudie Coffey TD, to attend a workshop on the tourism project called Ireland’s Ancient East, which was chaired by Minister Pascal Donohoe TD, Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport.

So many holiday choices.

It was great to note that Minister Donohoe spent the whole day in Waterford City and County seeing at firsthand our tourism offering and also I am sure that he took the opportunity to meet and greet many businesses involved in his ministerial portfolio.

We met in the Granville Hotel with industry representatives and members of the Council Executive.

As we are all aware Ireland’s Ancient East project was muted quite some time ago (possible as long ago as two years) and is in every single way the response to the highly successful Wild Atlantic Way project launched a number of years ago. The Wild Atlantic Way is literally pulling hundreds of thousands of tourists to the West and the unfortunate consequence of this is that less and less International tourists are coming to the Waterford and the South East. The Wild Atlantic Way has been a massively successful project and there can be absolutely no doubt that the strength of this new west coast brand will be nearly impossible to compete with and therefore we are yet again playing catch up to the rest of Ireland Inc.

Ireland's Ancient East.

The simple truth is that Waterford and the South East get the smallest amount of International tourist and more alarmingly we get a very insignificant amount of the available overseas tourism spend. And it is this very small percentage of spend that we should all be very concerned about. It is Tourism Ireland that promotes all things Irish in terms of this Emerald Isle as a destination. They really are only concerned with visiting numbers and the reality is that it makes no difference if 7 million tourists come to just one place as long as that place is in Ireland somewhere. So as a destination attractor Ireland’s Ancient East will have to be very special indeed if we are to get an ever increasing larger slice of the International tourism pie.

Despite all the efforts over the last number of years Waterford is still seen as a “very quick visit” for International tourists and as a results many spend literally a couple of hours, and a couple of Euro, in Waterford Crystal and the Viking Triangle and then hop back on to a tour bus and then it is off to Kilkenny or off down to the West of Ireland.

This of course is not what we want and the Ireland’s Ancient East project has to go an awful long way go to remedy this leakage of tourists and their much needed injection of Euro into our local economy. We are almost back to the same old scenario when our tourist numbers visited Kilbarry, bypassing the City altogether, and stayed two hours then it was off down the Cork Road and into the West.

The Wild Atlantic Way.

The fact the politicians from within Fine Gael cannot agree on whether Waterford should have its own tourism offering as part of Ireland’s Ancient East or be part of the wider Wild Atlantic Way does give cause for concern when you consider just how far behind we are in terms of our offering. On the day the Minister Donohoe was in Waterford his party colleague, Mr Deasy TD, was on WLR FM calling for Waterford Council to once again push for inclusion in the Wild Atlantic way. I personally believe that we have to have our own unique offering and from my very limited knowledge of all things Wild and Atlantic I do not believe we are in fact on the Atlantic at all, and we are on the Celtic Sea (I think) and as such we need our own unique selling point as part of a wider tourism offering! 

Interesting to note that Cork is hedging its bets and is on both maps of the Wild Atlantic Way and Ireland's Ancient East - you have got to hand it to them!

Minister Donohoe stated that he wished to see 600,000 additional tourists come to the South East by 2020, but that timescale is of course far too late or Waterford City and the wider South East region and this was pointed out to the Minister during the workshop. Quite simply need those 600,000 additional tourist now and next year and not 4 or 5 years away. Like our retail sector we need to see increased numbers coming immediately to the City and County, and all manner of hills and mountains need to be moved to achieve this. I often wonder if it is only me that can see the need for urgency and rapid implementation of projects that will bring financial security to the City and I do wonder if other see the City and County through a pair of optically challenge set of rose tinted glasses.

I pointed out to the Minister that communicating the messaging of the project is key and vital to its success, and that all front-line responders needed to be aware of the project and its objectives so that tourist would benefit from the correct information. Unfortunately, as is so often the case, unless the appropriate senior civil servants and their departments get behind the project it is doomed to be moving along at a snail’s pace when we require the implementation speed of a Peregrine falcon!

When you consider that most tour operators are already selling 18 to 24 months ahead we are realistically taking about 2017 at the very earliest before we can even look at persuading these tour operators to come and consider Ireland’s Ancient East. And we will then have try to persuade these operators to leave their traditional markets and bear in mind that these existing markets will be fighting tooth and nail to keep their existing supply chain and that tourism income. It really will be an monumental uphill struggle.

The success of Ireland’s Ancient East project will ultimately be down to buy-in from all sectors concerned within the tourism industry and history tells us, which we never seems to learn from, that for such a project to work we need to see real on-the-ground-work being down and figuratively speaking we need to see people prepared to “wear out their shoe leather”.

Failure to get the industry informed and get the industry enthused will deliver nothing. It is all very well communicating this message internally and within Government Departments but getting the message out to a wider stakeholder group is a whole different proposition.

And we can see similar mistakes with the opportunities around the Purple Flag in Waterford, where there has been a communication void in terms of message reinforcement. Yes, we need better stakeholder buy-in but the whole message dissemination around the Purple Flag in Waterford leaves one wondering if it could not have been done better.

Alchemists workshop.

So, the Ireland’s Ancient East project has the potential to deliver, but only if Minister Donohoe is prepared to rattle a few cages, stand on a few toes and move the year 2020 to 2017.

Though I am not sure alchemy is in his portfolio!

Rise and Rise again, Until the Lambs have become Lions.

“Rise and Rise again,

Like the Phoenix from the ashes,

Until the Lambs have become Lions,

And the Rule of Darkness is no more.”

This seems to be a very apt poem for Waterford at the moment. We have been for far too long “down and out” and yet can we now see the real signs of positivity beginning to return to this wonderful City and County.

I have over the last number of weeks touched upon and written about the many, many positive business stories that have come our way and this week is no different.

We now have confirmation that Bausch and Lomb are to invest significantly in Waterford City and expand the plant that manufactures products for a truly worldwide market. I am sure that we can all remember the not too distant announcement from the new owners of Bausch and Lomb, Valeant Pharmaceuticals, that they were either to cut pay and resize the workforce or close the plant. This in hindsight, though a very tough decision to take for the workforce, has in the end been played out positively for all concerned.

Valeant have been true to their word that short term pain would lead to long term gain and we can see the fruits of this promise with a multi-million Euro investment in Waterford City and the South East region. There can be absolutely no doubt that the very tough business decisions made and taken not even 12 months ago will see long term benefit for Waterford City and the employees of B & L.

This news, in addition to the announcement of the Portlaw development by Agora Incorporated, will, I am sure, deliver much needed additional jobs across the region and more importantly help to reduce our unemployment rate back towards the national average target.

I also believe that there will be further positive job announcements in the near future and this to must be welcomed by ALL and celebrated. As collectively we are beginning to put Waterford back on the jobs market and that can only be viewed as encouraging news.

Whilst the jobs news is great the sporting success of the Senior Hurling Team must also be applauded and will in time help to create a more positive attitude from the people of Waterford.

I have asked the question many times over as to why our nearest neighbours are more positive about business and business opportunities. And I do believe that due to the county’s phenomenal hurling successes the business community and the people of Kilkenny are just not quite so shy when it comes to “beating their own drums!”

But perhaps now Waterford is on a sporting success journey that will allow the people of Waterford to once again believe that they have something to shout positively about in terms of GAA Hurling.

Thanks to Noel Browne for the picture.

I must confess that having come from Scotland to Waterford City, some fifteen years ago, I am not familiar with Hurling and all the finer points of the game. The Garland household was brought up on rugby and my Father was so respected in the game that his ashes are actually sprinkled on the pitch at Murrayfield, on the try line, under the goalposts, at what used to be the old clock terracing end of the stadium. We sprinkled my Father’s ashes in 1999 and Scotland did in fact win the last Five Nations that year, but since then our Nations rugby prowess has diminished and we seem to now be collecting more wooden spoons than championships. I suppose I must take heart from the fact that we are reigning Five Nations Champions and yet I attended the WLR FM Big Rugby Breakfast last week and Ronan O’Gara did suggest that I start supporting another sport – I wonder why? 

I have watched Waterford play hurling on many occasions and whilst I still do not fully understand the sophistication of the game it did seem to me that the team did not fully believe in their own ability to win. They seemed to play the first half extremely well and fade or falter in the second half. But the team of young guns that I now see on the field of play seem to have absolutely no fear of their opposition and they simply go out believing that they are better than the foe they will face on the pitch on any given Sunday. The players chase and chase again and never seem to give up. They are simply prepared to leave it all on the pitch and I am sure that after the game last Sunday there were many, many aching joints and sore muscles.

The self belief we have will determine how our business functions and operates and this in turn will determine just how successful we are in business. Self belief is something we ALL have to learn and accommodate in our everyday lives and the more we believe in our own abilities the better we will ultimately perform. We must also expel the self-doubt that lingers in us all if we are to face adversity in the face and travel the hardest road to our destination. As without testing oneself in our everyday and business lives we are clearly not trying hard enough.

The joy of our Waterford Hurlers will lift the City and the County and quite rightly create expectation for the coming Championship games. We must all harness the drive, determination and positivity of the team, the squad and the backroom staff and shout, without shame, about the wonderful Waterford City and County we all live, work and play in.

It is time for ALL our Lambs to become Lions once more and as the City and County rises from the ashes we must embrace the recent multi-million Euro investment success and we must celebrate our sporting success.

 “Impossible is a word only to be found in the dictionary of fools,” Napoleon Bonaparte.  

Why we need €100 million to fix infrastructure in the region.

I was fortunate last week to be asked to speak on Newstalk’s morning breakfast radio show with Ivan Yates and Chris Donoghue. My wife, Oonagh, took a call late on Wednesday night and directed one of the programmes researchers to call me on my mobile. I took a subsequent call during one of our weekly 1848 Tricolour Celebration committee meetings having recognised the number as a one of Newstalk’s generic numbers and having noticed a couple of earlier missed calls.

I dutifully excused myself from the meeting to make a return call, in private, from the Granville Hotel. The Thursday morning’s Breakfast programme was dealing with the latest announcement, by Minister John Bruton TD, of further Government income being directed to bodies such as the IDA for further regional development – yet another report it would seem!

Having commented before on Newstalk Radio I was told that the programme wanted my observations on the announcement, the report and as an Entrepreneur and founding member of the Waterford Business Group I was asked to give an honest commentary. As with all these types of pre-interview research processes you really need to nail your colours to the mast so that the researcher is impressed with your dialogue, the tonality in your voice, your clarity of speech and your reasoned arguments, and if they are happy they will recommend you for a live interview.

My interview was duly scheduled for 07:45 on Thursday morning.

During the course of Wednesday evening a number of texts were exchanged altering the times of the live broadcast to around 09:00. As always I was trying to be accommodating, but to complicate matters the 1848 Tricolour Celebration committee had arranged a press briefing and press launch of the 2015 events programme at 08:30 on Thursday morning. All the local media were to be represented including support from the Mayor Tobin and Waterford Council. As PRO of the committee I was under a wee bit of pressure to make sure the launch was organised professionally and also ran smoothly.

But as I have always said “Pressure is for tyres and turbos!” So roll on Thursday morning.

I arrived at the Granville around 07:45 to meet with the Chair of the 1848 Committee, Ann Cusack. Some last minute printing for additional information to be included with the press packs and I was good to go for the press launch and the Newstalk interview scheduled for 09:00.

Our guests started to arrive for the 1848 Tricolour Celebration breakfast press launch; The Munster Express, the Waterford Today, the Waterford Mail, The News and Star, WLR FM, The Independent, Mayor Tobin, Waterford Council and so on. Everything was running smoothly and on time.

Phone call from Newstalk at 08:13 – live interview will now not to go ahead. Relax. This would give me more time for the press launch.

Phone call from Newstalk at 08:44 – interview back on and scheduled for 09:30. Radio head back on.

This new live interview time would give me just enough time to arrange the necessary press pictures for all the media, a few WLR FM radio interviews and then give me time to slip away, find a spot where the mobile signal was excellent and more importantly find a quiet spot just in case I had to raise my voice.

I took my last call from Newstalk at 09:30 from the sound engineer. Two or three sound checks later and I was good to go.

I never like to over prepare for live radio interviews, but I do try to map out what I want to say in my head and I know the key points I wish to reinforce. I also try to pre-empt the questions I am likely to be asked. And having been on before with Ivan Yates I knew that he would ask one relevant question at the start and then ask me one or two other questions that would perhaps be slightly controversial, just to see if I would bite back. But above all I try to make sure that I can do an interview in “one-take!”

The whole interview took just 7 or 8 minutes.

I that time I was asked just three questions and having mapped out my responses in my mind I was very happy with what I said.

The jist of what I said was that for regional policies to work in Waterford we simple need €100,000,000 to spend on the infrastructure so sadly lacking in Waterford and the South East. We need the airport runway finished but not on a shoe-string, we need the extension to be built in such a way that it future proofs the airport for generations to come. We need the north wharf developed and the necessary infrastructure built so that his part of the City can become a silk purse and not the pigs ear we currently have to look at today. We need to deliver University status for WIT and this promise was in the Programme for Government (another report I have propping up my desk), but will almost certainly not be delivered in this Governments lifespan.

These three projects alone will finally put Waterford on the map in terms of IDA investors and will make the City, County and South East a better option for future investment consideration.

As a side it has always staggered me that as Ireland’s fifth City Waterford does not have University status. A tag that is universally known to stand for investment in research and development, and a tag that says to everyone that our City is one of the best in the World. It is such a shame that the youth of Waterford and the South East have to leave (as my daughter Saoirse will have to do) if they choose to go onto third level University education.

Once upon a time Waterford City was earmarked as one of Ireland’s gateway Cities. This was supposed to give Waterford a chance of additional investment, better third level attainment and so much more. That tag is now a dim distant memory and I fear that yet another half-hearted effort to develop this region is on the cards.

I believe that the solution to regional development is very simply. Give the money to people and businesses in Waterford that will actually spend the money on the right projects that will directly benefit the region.

Do we need to create a Waterford Development Agency? Perhaps we do. But in the meantime deliver €100,000,000 to Waterford and let the Waterford People make our City the economic hub of the South East – simples!

ENDS