“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.

A colourful City?

At the time of writing, Minister Pascal "Use the Force" Luke Donohoe, would have been polishing the finer points of his 2018 Fine Gael Budget.

After being “Anointed” in June this year, to Leo’s Cabinet, as Minister of Finance, his wee primary school abacus has been dusted down and no doubt, never worked so hard. As TD after TD has demanded that their very own field of green deserves much, much more than their nearest neighbour.

There is NO sense of teamwork. Friendships are completely forgotten. Camaraderie goes out the window when budget time comes around. It is dog eat dog in the halls of power, in Leinster House.

I grant you, it is slightly more complicated this year, with the thin bonds holding this Government together. The sticking plaster is under tremendous strain, or so the spin would like you to believe. Yet, at the end of the day there is really very little between our two “Centre, right, left” parties and neither is going to step down from the seat of power just yet. There are deadlines to reach, in terms of securing pension rights, pay rises to accept and the feeling is that our next election may well be pushed out to 2019.

Just who, from Waterford, has been battering down the door to the Minister’s office in Upper Merrion Street? We have suspiciously heard very little from our two sitting Government TDs. You have to wonder just which side they’re batting for?

The jungle drums are beating out messages, telling us that the likes of our neighbouring Teflon TD, is working miracles for his Tipp constituents. Kilkenny’s new boy on the block, is steamrolling yet more investment into his county, to make up for the disappointment of their hurlers!

All around this wee green isle, deals were being done and papers signed, to advance parish pump politics. Something our elected few seem particularly bad at. We know the game plan, but just like some of our soccer teams, we find it impossible to stick to. When we need a “Plan B”, well, it is simply not there. Good in practice but poor in execution. “He talks a good game”, could be our political mantra.

Will Waterford be any better off once all the dust has settled on Budget Day 2018? Will the granny knot on Pascal’s purse strings be untied, affording Waterford much needed exchequer funding. Improving our access infrastructure, starting the North Quays, giving the South East proper cardiac care and delivering a REAL university for our region......I am not so sure.

Printed words will promise the earth, moon and stars, however I fear much of the same old, same old rhetoric. We have for far too long, been used to reading paragraph after paragraph of waffle. Commitment with absolutely NO substance, in how Waterford will likely benefit from the remote decisions being made, on our behalf, in the Dáil?

Don’t hold your breath! We are once again bottom of the pecking order and have been thrown the odd crumb or two. When will we ever get the chance to order, once again, from the à la carte menu?

My spirits were lifted on Sunday, despite this concerning backdrop. Once again I was involved in stewarding for the Solas Cancer Support Centre Run and Walk for Life. Having been Chair of the organising committee for the last two years, I was delighted to see the new committee run the most successful event to date.

The 5-mile walk, introduced in my first year as Chair of the RWFL in 2015, has as expected grown exponentially and has now become the main stay of the event. Well over 2,000 people took part in this the third walk. This annual event may now have become the biggest participatory event in Waterford.

A spectacular and solid sea of orange could be witnessed along The Quay and up The Mall.

Once again, I managed to get hold of a loud hailer. I positioned myself on the corner of John’s Street to bark, Sherk-like, instructions, to the runners and walkers. Then, I found myself balance on my push bike, cycling alongside the walkers, using the hailer to shout encouragement.

“Only 4-miles to go!” may well be my new calling card. 

Our Showcase Weekend!

It has to be one of the most eagerly anticipated weekends of the year. The annual “Spraoi Bank Holiday in August”, as we all now call it.

The 2017 three-day event was even more special this year, as we were celebrating the 25^th Birthday, of this festival of street music and entertainment. An event that, in all honesty has probably grown to such an extent, that those originators who came up with the idea, are pinching themselves very hard.

Who could have imagined that from such a small acorn, a whole forest would grow?

Spraoi 25, has brought to Waterford City, brand new international acts and a plethora of exciting, innovative and extraordinary home-grown talent. Year on year we see this festival “Reinvent” the concept of street entertainment. This production seems as fresh as ever. It is an amazing formula, has not become stale under any circumstance. You certainly don’t hear people saying this is just the “Same old, same old!”

This was my 16^th Spraoi, since relocating to Waterford City from Scotland. Having come from an events background, covering venues such as Wembley Stadium and Arena, also The Business Design Centre, I know just how challenging and difficult it is to keep an event relevant.

Hats off to the team, some would say army, of staff and volunteers who keep this Waterford treasure rolling along. Not only do they deliver annually, on the first weekend in August, but they are now even packing attendances in, at other festival in far flung corners of Europe. Maybe one year Edinburgh City will open its eyes and invite our SPRAOI to attend the Fringe? Now that would be worth visiting “Auld Reekie” for!

Despite a wee bit of warm rain on Sunday, the weather was excellent for wandering around this oldest of Ireland’s cities. It was great to see that so many of our visitors were exploring Waterford’s wee narrow streets, for the first time. They would turn a corner and there in front of them would be another performance area. We really are blessed with wondrous ancient architecture, Spraoi blending in so well, with its almost chaotic choreographed stage shows.

To many, the weekend is of course bookended by the parade and fireworks display. It would appear that Uncle Tom Cobley and his extended family were in attendance. There is something truly mesmerising about late night fireworks. The myriad of psychedelic colours, ear splitting loud bangs, pops, whizzes and whooshes, exhilarate our very essence. We all love a grand finale to a festival and Spraoi has this down to a fine art.

Of course the whole event needs sponsors and our support, the donating public. As with “ALL things Arty”, there is a huge squeeze on funding for such projects and festivals. The annual struggle, to get just enough to cover costs will always be a difficult uphill task! Funding is forthcoming from various tax payers’ resources, but alas, more and more is being channelled, yes you’ve guessed correctly, away from Waterford!

Once again we are, proportionately, at the very bottom of the Giving Tree, when it comes to supporting our Waterford arts. Local Authorities are being squeezed year on year. Have no doubt that Government pressure will force constraints, come the annual budgetary months of November and December. Those Councils, who wish to continue funding The Arts at the same levels, will be “Encouraged” to find these costs from direct increases in local commercial rates and the local property tax. The jungles drums are already tapping out a beat!

Government is at pains to tell us that “The Arts” are high on their agenda and at every local level they apparently matter a great deal. Yet, the opposite is true when fiscal policy dictates that they be adequately funded. The funding pinch will happen in 2018, as the current Government try to “Buy” our votes for the next general election, looming on the horizon.

Waterford City and County manages to incorporate many, many festivals into the calendar year. In fact we are just as busy as other cities, including Galway.

Spraoi works, because we all feel we’re part of the festival. We feel like we “OWN” a part of “OUR” festival, roll on the next 25 years.

Who is listening? #awaitinganotherreview #missinginaction

We are being heard, but no one is really listening!

Now, there is a very distinct difference between hearing and listening.

When you hear something, your ear is quite simply picking up and perceiving a particular sound. If you remember your Physics classes in secondary school, you hear and then your brain interprets those sound waves and vibrations.

Listening on the other hand, is a conscious effort to choose what you want to hear. To do this, you must concentrate on the messages you receive and understand them. Many of our senses are involved in listening and the result is more often than not, an immediate call to action. Whether that be a fight or flight response, or a simple “Yes, I am listening” response, to when Mrs Garland asks you about housework, when Scotland are playing rugby, on the TV!

Many people get these two completely mixed up. As a result, there are far too many people assuming that other people are listening to them, when in fact they are only barely being heard.

It would seem that the root of many of Waterford’s current woes and problems, stem from our inherent inability to get Waterford’s message out to the wider public and those in power. We do enough shouting and we are very good at getting people to listen on a local level. Outside of that very narrow boundary, we do not seem to be able to get the right influencers to listen to, appreciate and grasp our case. This of course has been happening to Waterford for many, many years. When we do eventually connect to the island’s consciousness, we are thrown the odd crumb, an appeasement for another few years. M9 motorway, case in point.

Could we learn from other regions?

It seems that we continue to climb our Everest, unaided, unsupported and without oxygen, whilst others are gaining copious help. Many, many Sherpa Tenzings, considerable quantities of that essential life giving odourless gas and base camps supporting the treacherous ascent. The result is that “Regional Development”, and I use that phrase very lightly, is given to those who are able to make people listen to their plight and struggles.

For some reason we just seem to be an irritating background noise, annoying far too many “People in power” and “Influencers”. This can even be heard and seen, across the world of our terrestrial broadcasters. Ask them to highlight Waterford’s current health problems, third level educational issues, unemployment struggles etc and to a man and a woman they seem disinterested. It is almost as if they have not listened to our messaging. They are only hearing an irritating buzzing in their ears.

It is clear that we need to change the way we are engaging with people on a national level. Our regional issues appear to have become solely Waterford issues by the time they reach Leinster House. Thus, diluted and diminished on impact.

Yes, a lack of political clout and Ireland’s love of parish pump politics does not help our case. But we should surely become just a bit more tactical in our campaigns? To gain Dublin’s ear?

It might be time to get our national broadcasters to sit up and to give more than a few seconds to our many issues. Of course the sixty five million dollar question is “How?”

Maybe we could take a leaf out of Fianna Fail’s recent social media campaign, #askfiannafail, and ask them to deliver for the region? Maybe this hashtag should actually read #askalloppositionparties, if we are really to get things moving?

Or better still we could just #askfinegael, as they are in power and we do have two TDs, who form part of this current Government. We even have a Junior Minister in Waterford. Of course I forgot, one is #missinginaction and the other is #awaitinganotherreview.

Our other option is to #takethefighttoDublin. I have heard people talking about taking a 90-minute protest to Dublin. #driveslowly or #blockthetolls on the M50! This would get us noticed. But would we be listened to if we were to take such a direct approach?

We clearly have an awful long way to go, #tobelistenedto. 

Finally, for the weekend ahead "Happy 25th Birthday Spraoi!" Looking forward to the fireworks display and parade. #Spraoi25

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. 

Thanks to The Donald – we all became Political Commentators last week!

There were probably more words written on last week’s US Presidential election, since records began. Just when those records began no one knows. But rest assured 8^th November 2016 will go down in the annals of history, when every person with access to social media, was suddenly to become a qualified Political Commentator!

As soon as the election results started trickling through, from around 02:00 on the 9^th November, it became very clear that things were not going Hillary’s way. The Donald started securing more and more Electoral College votes. Was he to be the latest political force to rubbish and poo poo ALL the highly paid, soon to be extinct pollsters – oh yes he was!

When The Donald finally crossed the whitewash, the social media backlash started. All and sundry suddenly became interested in politics. But not Irish politics, the politics of the United States of America. For some unexpected reason this became everyone’s raison d'etre. Well, on the plus side, this did, thankfully, signal the end of “Brexit Bashing”, but not unfortunately, the end of Mr Farage, who now seems to be Donald’s Bestie UK politician.

Social Media, all of a sudden, had people believing that they were Jeremy Paxman, Andrew Neil, The Dimbleby brothers....the list was endless. We even had the conspiracy theorists somehow inextricably linking the 9^th of November with the 11^th of September - just because they share the same day and month digits, in an abbreviated calendar! Now, I am no believer in conspiracy theories at the best of times, but lads, come on, get a life!

In the cold light of day only around 55% of US citizen voted in the election. That meant that there were over one hundred million, that’s 100,000,000, eligible voters, who simply did not bother to go out and vote. That is voter apathy on an enormous scale. You have to wonder just why nobody actually twigged to the fact, that there were so many latent votes to be secured. By somehow relating to this enormous legion, forgotten in all the poles and predictions, either side could have ensured a landslide victory.

Now, the common thread on Social Media, was that The Donald somehow encouraged all manner of lunatic, numpty, fringe voters to carry him to the magical 270 Electoral College votes, required to win. He secured over 60,000,000 votes and surely not all of these voters are the uneducated loonies the media painted? A similar sentiment has been suggested at the “leave” voters in Brexit. But the truth be told, is that so many are just missing the point.

After years and years of obnoxious and elite political rule, the “normal people” on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, were simply sick and tired of politicians NOT listening, to the very people who employ them. Protest voting will become the norm in the next few years across many European countries and if Governments wish to stop this happening again, then they MUST listen to the disenchanted, disillusioned voters. Not listening will increasingly generate these types of election results.

The Donald mobilised and capitalised on so many people, who wished to stick two fingers up to their Government and give them more than just a bloody nose. They wanted to say “HEY, we are here and you are NOT listening to us, so accept the consequences of your continued indifference!”

Perhaps, we in Waterford and across the South East could learn a thing or two from the lack of concern, shown by our national politicians. We need to remember that TDs are elected to work for us and not the other way around. We do appear to be very accepting of poor performance and yet this infertility for Waterford has just been rewarded with a €5,000 pay increase.

I only wish, that those who have turned to politics in the last few weeks, would channel that energy and passion towards our Waterford problems. Just imagine the fear that we could engender by striking at the heart of Government, if we could marshal the voters across the whole South East!

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).

Omnishambles!

Malcolm Tucker "The Thick of It"

“Noun, plural omnishambles. A situation, especially in politics, in which poor judgement results in disorder or chaos with potential disastrous consequences.” According to all things Wikipedia, this word is a compound word made up from the Latin prefix “omni” meaning “all” and the word “shambles” meaning complete and utter disorder.

This word was first used in the BBC TV series and political satire “The Thick of it” and in particular was used by the lead character Malcolm Tucker, aka Peter Capaldi, he strangely enough would later go on to become the twelfth incarnation of that most famous of Doctors - Doctor Who.

We have seen over the last few weeks, in fact months, political dithering on such an enormous scale, you could well believe that we have been watching a satirical TV series plotting the formation of a new Irish Government in 2016!

The all encompassing media have revelled in telling us, night after night after night, that there have now been many behind closed doors private meetings, with reports of dark shadows skulking and scurrying around the corridors of power in Dáil Éireann.

But are we really any the wiser as to what is actually going on?

I would say NO. The fact of the matter is that, we, as the electorate are being treated with contempt. Almost as though we are something, not so nice smelling, that we would stand on whilst out walking in the pedestrianised area of any high street.

My sentiment is that we are being contemptuously treated by the political glitterati. This was reinforced towards the end of last week when, for the right or wrong reasons, we were informed that one of our highly paid TD’s was applying for legal aid to fight a court case!

Now where is the sense in that? There are people in genuine need of legal aid not receiving it and now here we are with one of our elected representatives asking for yet more of our hard earned taxpayers’ money to pay for his own legal defence!!!!!

Swap Shop for a better deal!

Are our TDs not handsomely paid and have they not been on holiday for the last ten weeks?

These issues have irked, angered and annoyed the living daylights out of me for the last few days. In discussion with colleagues and friends, I have often asked what people are doing about it? The reply is more often than not a resigned intake of breath before the answer “Well what can I do and anyway they will not do anything about it!”

Unfortunately, this stock answer is exactly what is expected and I have no doubt that is why the political map of Ireland never really changes. People are either too tired of asking, or there is such a malaise with all things political, that nobody is prepared to put the necessary pressure on our TDs to make real positive change.

This seeming unwillingness to ask and drive home the hard questions, or be that Terrier with his bone, thus being prepared to fight to get the right answers has trickled down to local politics and local decision making.

The fact of the matter is, that we as citizens, and local businesses are plainly not prepared to fight for what is right, proper and correct. There are far too many recent examples of us just sitting back and accepting what is thrown at us.

The collective strength in numbers, does affect positive change thus creating opportunities for businesses to “barter a better deal”. If only more people believed in this mantra and were prepared to not just put a hand above the parapet, but were prepared to stand on the parapet and shout!

 

As long as we remain silent voters, we will be treated like mushrooms and forever kept in the dark.

Waterford is transitioning alongside the various highly publicised developments which are beginning to start. The future of Waterford must be in the hands of the citizens and businesses that fund that change.

Silence is never golden!

A Political Disaster-Class!

Is it just me or is anyone else shocked, annoyed, p@#$*d off and distinctly uncomfortable with the delay in forming a new Government? Was the election not seven weeks ago and yet we are still waiting to hear and read about the make-up of the next Dáil?

We all know that the wheels of Government tend to turn very, very slowly, but they appear not to be moving at all on the important issue of actually governing this country. It just goes to prove that the Humphreys of this world, which so famously amused us during the early eighties in the UK sitcom “Yes Minister”, are the people actually running this country.

Despite no Government, at the time of writing this article, this country continues to run and function efficiently enough. We have not yet turned into a lawless anarchistic state with angry hordes taking to the streets to demonise our political class thus begging the question just what have our newly elected representatives been doing for the last seven weeks?

Have we the tax payer just been subsidising one big Dublin shindig?

Is this not a clear case of demonstrating just how unproductive the political system is in Ireland? Were we to benchmark the productivity over the last seven weeks I am quite sure that the outcomes would not make good reading. Businesses and employees are constantly being told to be more productive, be more streamlined and yet the very people championing this mantra are themselves not practising what they preach. Never have I witnessed such ineptitude and incompetence.

Does it really take seven weeks to get round a table, bash a few heads together, forget historic playground jibes and “barter a better deal for the people for Ireland?”

Of course it should not.

The people, on 26^th February, gave a mandate for a new type of political representation and yet those elected seem to have forgotten this and now seem to be once again ploughing their own furrow for the betterment of who? There was just one chance to sweep the political map clean and start afresh? But we are back once again to sweeping the same dirt round and round the room.

Being openly pro all things Waterford, these delays are not doing our City, County and the greater South East any good what so ever. The longer the negotiations, (or should that read child’s play?), go on, the more and more we lose focus, on the very issues that need to be fixed to get us back to some sort of viable economic stability.

Wander around our City on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and even a Thursday and you will see very few people out spending money in our retail heart. We are still in that third tier of Ireland’s economic recovery and our disposable income is one of the lowest in the country. This elephant in our room will not go away and longer the procrastinations and childish bickering that goes on in Dublin the more our economic issues will fade as a distant election manifesto memory.

So who should we blame for the delay in getting on with governing? Well, I would blame ALL politicians for not sorting this mess out. People need to swallow their pride and find a solution that suits the county and not a solution that suits the politicians.

 

I wonder if we paid our politicians based on results, actions, productivity and delivery would we be in a different place? I do not know of any business or organisation for that matter, that would pay staff for what has in actuality been seven weeks of inactivity and downtime!

Finally, I must say that our TD’s are all looking extremely smart, save one or two exceptions, with new suits, perfect hair, and new gunas, on that satellite channel Oireachtas TV. Clearly, they have been spending their time wisely, seeking the advice of Gok Wan.

Though some have evidently engaged Trinny and Susannah for styling tips!

Today’s headline - tomorrow’s fish supper wrapper!

“Today’s headline - tomorrow’s fish supper wrapper” is a phrase often used back home, in Scotland, when referring to the millions of fish and chips, or deep fried mars bar takeaways, that are still wrapped in the previous day’s unsold national and local newspapers. Both the broadsheets and redtops are recycled for this very purpose and for some reason your fish supper always tastes better wrapped in newspaper.

This much worn phrase implies that no matter how good or bad a printed headline is, in the vast array of news print we have available, it undoubtedly has a very limited lifespan. The sensationalism of a newspaper headline is more often than not extremely short lived and therefore all too easily forgotten!

It is without doubt our ability to forget that has Government, aided by their very clever PR gurus, that regularly and without challenge allow contentious and controversial issues to be “shock news” for a relatively short period of time as they are aware that we all literally “forgive and forget” in the space of a few days.

We can see clear battle lines being drawn when unpopular decisions are about to be made. With a quantifiable time period for the bad press fallout and social media pillorying in place. Rest assured there are advisors upon advisors acting on behalf of the many Government departments, working away into the wee small hours calculating just how long a bad news story will run and last, and working out how to “ride out the chorus of protest and disapproval”.

It is these risk and reward calculations that allow Government to make unpopular choices and deal with a plethora of embarrassing headlines. Even though we have no official word as to who or what will constitute the makeup of the next Government we have already seen, read and forgotten the recent headlines over the retaining, recharging or ditching of water charges!

We will read with regularity over the coming few days and weeks claim and counter claim as more and more insider inter-party negotiation information is leaked to the press from all mainstream political parties, alliance interest groups and independents, who could well be holding the balance of power of the next Government – a throwback to the “good old days!”.

This in turn will create sensational and often spurious headlines with a view to creating shock and astonishment for the reader. However, we must be prepared to dig deeper beyond the initial headline to get at the truth of the story to formulate our own opinions.

Sometimes we can and will be swayed by headline grabbers who cynics might say are published by newspapers to increase sales. After all bad news seems to sell many more newspapers than a good news story headline.

To tackle the various hot ticket issues in the next few weeks we need in turn to voice our own opinions and concerns to those who will making the decisions behind closed doors and in the corridors of Dublin. After all did we not go to the poles to vote for change? This can of course be done on a very local level through our four newly directly elected members.

But be warned the clock is ticking on our opportunity to have our say and voice our opinion. But it is never too late to make that difference.

We are all responsible for creating our own headlines and making the printed news matter to us. The last things we need in Waterford and Ireland Inc is a whole series of newspapers headlines that will simply disappear into our green refuse bin. Ultimately biodegrading or being recycled into another sensational newspaper headline.

As tax payers and voters we must not be frightened or concerned about contacting and lobbying those very people we ultimately employ. We are all responsible for making change for the betterment of Waterford and the wider society in general.

Don’t let today’s headlines be tomorrow’s fish supper wrapper!

Gie Her A Haggis!

The food of Champions!

In four days time, on Monday 25^th January, many Scots, the Scottish Diaspora and anyone with a modicum of Scottishness, from around the globe, will be celebrating “Burns Night”. An annual get together of friends and family that celebrates one of Scotland’s most famous sons and one of our greatest exports – Robert or “Rabbie” Burns, the Bard of Ayrshire.

Robert Burns was the son of a peasant farmer and he was born, in Alloway, Ayrshire, on 25^th January 1759 (note the Scots claimed this date long before Mr Guinness did!). In his very short life, he died aged 37 in 1796, he would become one of Scotland’s greatest cultural icons, a voice of socialism and liberalism, through the writing of some of the world’s best recognised songs and poems.

Perhaps one of his best loved songs is sung every New Year’s Eve or Hogmanay. Not many of you may know this but the song “Auld Lang Syne” was penned by Burns in 1788 and who could have imagined that one day this song would be one of the world’s most recognised tunes, some 200 years after the death of Robert Burns.

You may also have heard of poems such as “A Red Red Rose”, “A Man’s a Man for A’ That” and “Tam O’Shanter”. Burns even influenced Phil Coulter and the line in Ireland’s Call “Come the day and come the hour” comes directly from the start of the second verse from the Burns poem “Scots Wha Hae”, a song that for a time served as our unofficial national anthem.

Robert or "Rabbie" Burns

Robert Burns was without doubt one of Scotland’s first ever superstars, the Robbie Williams of his time. He was loved by the lassies and when he performed his poetry in the Assembly Rooms, in Edinburgh, the lassies flocked in there hundreds and thousands. The lassies just could not wait to hear his Ayrshire brogue and “risky” views. He performed his stand-up in what is now one of Edinburgh’s leading Fringe Festival venues and he was so liked, adored and admired by the fairer sex that he fathered 13 children that we know of.

Burns would be fondly remembered for the times he spent with his closest friends, in the local pub, sipping whisky, debating politics, telling jokes, embellishing stories and reciting his beloved poetry. He was comfortable with his friends and neighbours, and much of what he penned was inspired by those around him, those who told him of their trials and tribulations of the hard lives they were leading and having to endure on a daily basis – times never change!

And why, may you ask, I am telling you about one of Scotland’s national heroes and one of our greatest ever exports?

Well, I was eager to tell you about Robert Burns because one of our local German retailers is in fact stocking Haggis, from Scotland, and I am delighted to see that in this land of Saints and Scholars that one of my own is starting to get noticed.

If Burns lived here, in Waterford City today, I would like to think that he would be a loud and proud voice that stood up to authority and spoke for and on behalf of the people. He would have confronted his perceived injustices of Government and striven to make a better life for all the men and women of Waterford.

Creating a better life for all of us here in Waterford really does lie in our own hands. We must push Waterford to the forefront of Government debate and at the very least ensure that we are at the dinner table, with or without Haggis, as at the moment we are not even getting to look at the menu.

If you are going to try a Haggis on Monday night remember the “bashit neeps an’ chappit tatties”, lots of pepper on the neeps and of course a wee glass of whisky.

"I'm  hunting Haggis!"

“Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face, 
Great chieftain o the puddin'-race!

......

His knife see rustic Labour dight,
An cut you up wi ready slight,

......

But mark the Rustic, haggis-fed,
The trembling earth resounds his tread,

......

But, if ye wish her gratefu prayer,
Gie her a Haggis!”

Done and dusted.

As Winterval comes to the end of its first week we can look forward to a busy Christmas and hopefully the many businesses in and around the City Centre will see a much needed boost in sales that will carry them through into 2016. In 2016 all we can hope for as a Christmas present is a much bigger slice of the recovery cake and that all the headline promises we have read and heard about in our local media will be delivered by those making the promises.

Remember, it is very dangerous to over promise!

Waterford’s Four are now in election mode and are willing to promise delivery on projects that in truth should have been delivered months and years ago. No doubt over the next few weeks and months we will be endlessly bombarded with just how lucky we have been in terms of investment. So we really must ask ourselves if what has come our way is good enough or can be accepted as the absolute minimum that was needed to be delivered over the lifetime of the last Government. I would advocate that Government has under delivered for Waterford.

The simple fact is that more should have come Waterford’s way over the last number of years and we must all understand that any investment, that has managed to travel down the M9 from Dublin, has not been nearly enough and, yes, we may well sit at the top table but we are still feeding off the crumbs thrown to us and we have still not been invited to choose from the menu.

At the last Waterford Council plenary meeting, held in Dungarvan, the Council passed the Waterford City Centre Urban Renewal Scheme. A Scheme that will see circa €4,000,000 come from Government and circa €4,000,000 come from Waterford Council. Why ALL the money for the Scheme cannot come from Government I do not know!

The final meaty document contains all the plans, altered plans and reference to the 76 submissions from organisations, groups, individuals, businesses and Councillors – well 4 Councillors to be very precise.

Councillors Mulligan, Kelly, O’Neill and Daniels appear to be the only four Councillors out of our 32 good men and women of the Council, who seem to have been bothered to lodge a written submission. I will hazard a guess that many more will claim a significant input, behind closed doors, in committee, to this development document – but it would have been fitting for us, members of the public, to be able to actually read and dissect our Councillors input and observations, so that we can judge for ourselves the level of that input.

The final document is now done and dusted and all indications are that the work will start early in 2016 with the promise that no work on reducing car parking spaces will commence until the gas works car park is delivered – first muted for completion some 4 or 5 years ago!

During last week’s Metropolitan Council meeting we heard that the demolition for the North Quay was also done and dusted (again) and the work would start in the New Year. However, not many people will realise that we are to be left with piles of “concrete road foundation stones” of around 5cm square.

Swindon's Magic Roundabout

This substrate will be left on the North Quay until such times as it can be used.

The debacle that was the broadcast centre roundabout is now done and dusted. People power made all the difference and I have no doubt that this engineering master class has seen the Council receive the most amounts of complaints since records began.

It just goes to show that when we all work together mountains can be moved. Unfortunately, social media was almost instantaneously awash with Councillors claiming individual credit for what really should have been acknowledged as a remarkable team effort to turn around an experiment that a five year old Lego user could see would not work.

Jobs, jobs, jobs......but really how many?

You just knew that there was a jobs announcement on the way when FOUR Ministers turned up in Waterford City at the start of last week. Like London Buses you wait forever for one to arrive and then four arrive all at once, and before you know it they are off again tearing away at breakneck speed. However, as RTE were covering this jobs announcement it was going to be a very safe bet that some of our senior people from Dáil Éireann would turn up. But I have rarely seen such a large number of Ministers descend on our City so there MUST have been good news in the offing.

The jobs announcements last week are most welcome for Waterford City, Waterford County and of course the greater wider SE region. With Eishtec expanding into Clonmel they must now be one of the largest employers in the region, if not Ireland, with circa 1300 employees. And to think that this company literally rose out of the ashes of Talk Talk a number of years ago. With centres in Waterford, Wexford, Craigavon and now Clonmel this business is on an upward curve.

I still vividly recall the announcement that Talk Talk was to close in Waterford City. This after all was a very profitable company and a company competing very favourably in what is a very demanding and tough market sector. The Talk Talk closure affected the whole SE region and I remember after the closure collating stats to aid sourcing training grants and I was amazed by the numbers of people this company employed right across the region. This was a prime example at how a Waterford City based company created employment throughout the whole SE region.

In addition to the Eishtec news we heard of jobs being created by Bluefin, a company created from Red Hat, which was formally known as Feed Henry. A success story from TSSG, and there have in fact been many recent success stories from this operation and I have no doubt that there will be many more. The TSSG and ArcLabs resource in the WIT Carriganore Campus are literally beavering away creating ideas and future employment. It is a facility that should be more loudly promoted and championed for Waterford City.

As you can read I am extremely positive about any new jobs announcement for Waterford and the wider SE region, though I often do believe that there should be more emphasis put on the actual jobs created and not the projected jobs that might be created. We live in the present and it is present jobs that Waterford and the region require and future jobs are encouraging but far too often the larger number is always produced simply, I feel, to make the announcements “beefier”. After all every single business could project a future employee statistics but just how many of these claims are actually attainable or measured for that matter?

I assume that we are “sold” the value of the IDA’s investment based on these projected figures and I also assume that “grant aid” is based on said larger figure. Though due to the sensitive nature of IDA client discussion we will never really know what grant aid companies actually get or receive. There is no individual breakdown outside of the IDA so it is impossible to find out or estimate. It would be interesting for bodies such as the IDA to release a comparison showing whether or not these projected figures are actually attained or bettered, then we would know if we were getting value for our tax payers Euro. We know that to attract FDI here the IDA have to work very hard and they, I assume, have to be very creative with their grant funding and each FDI get a bespoke grant package that suits their own business model.

The creation of jobs is to be welcomed at all levels but more importantly for Waterford and the SE we need to realise jobs that create enough disposable income so as to have a positive effect on our localised economy. At the present moment in time the SE has one of the lowest disposable incomes in Ireland and that is not good for our economy no matter what spin you place on this argument. The very low disposable income is reflected on websites such as the Pobal Deprivation Index that clearly show Waterford and the SE need jobs that reflect higher wages and therefore higher disposable income spend.  

It is quite simple. If you have €50 of disposable income available a week you can only spend €50 of your disposable income. However, if we all had €500 of disposable income available every week then we would have a burgeoning local economy and our “colour” on the Deprivation Index would be greatly different.

We are lead to believe that the current Government are the party of Small Business and yet I see on a day to day basis very little evidence of this on the ground here in Waterford. For SME’s there are no IDA grants, very little if any EI grants and other grants are difficult to access if your business does not fit a very tight and defined selection criteria. This has to change to allow SME’s to survive and ultimately employ more people, and more importantly employ more people and give them a higher disposable income to spend locally.

To date if you are an SME in Waterford, and the majority of businesses in Ireland are classed as SME’s, there is very little support for you in terms of accessing grant aid or business funding. Yet we see hundreds of millions invested into FDI’s, which is good, but is this at the detriment to others. Surely, we must see a balanced and regional solution to grant aid and ultimately investing in our City’s future. This is not happening and if we are to return “a party of business” to Dáil Éireann at the next election then we must start to hear and read about how they are going to secure SME’s investment funding for our City, County and the greater SE region.

Do we see this Government making it less expensive to run and operate a business? No! Do we see this Government pressing local authorities to significantly reduce Commercial Rates? No! Do we see this Government creating regional solutions that will help Waterford compete with other population centres? No! And yet come to Ireland as a multi-national and we will open our doors to you and give you grants, we will give you money and so on. Really the see-saw of support investment has to be balance and balanced in favour of small business.

Waterford of all the cities in Ireland needs immediate financial help, assistance and with an election on the way you might just see more and more bus loads Ministers coming down the M9/N9 to champion their case for election to the next Government.

Be wise in what you ask them and be even wiser in deciphering what they promise. Will we ever learn from history – well time will tell.

My wee girl goes off to university....what the UL?

I, like many other parents in the last week, have been literally packing a child off to a third level institution. For me, as a first time parent to this process, I have found the whole experience both exciting and a wee bit apprehensive, if the truth be told. After all we do not know if the course or the institution will suit our children and all we can really hope for is that we have made the right decision and the right choices.

My daughter’s first course choice has taken her to the University of Limerick. A university that in 2015 won The Irish Times “Best University” award and as there are only a handful of universities in Ireland I can only assume that this award is shared on a rotational basis.

Having achieved and surpassed the entry qualification points we attended the “induction” or “orientation” day at UL on Tuesday 1^st September. The well travelled road to Limerick is a shocker and a poor reflection on a major trunk route between two of Ireland’s Cities. Two hours after setting off from Waterford we arrived at the stunning UL campus. Thanks to an American philanthropist this has to be one of the most impressive campuses in Ireland. All still relatively new and shinny, with lots of open space, sports facilities to rival any university, and the added bonus of being able to watch the odd Munster player training!

As I was to spend the whole day at UL I took the time to walk, explore and view every corner of the campus. The first thing that struck me was that it was so inspirational to see so many fresh faced young adults starting their next educational journey. There were literally thousands of students orienteering themselves on this day.

I also started totting up the positive economic impact of a university city and from the accommodation figures alone I worked out that around €1.8 million was being spent on the accommodation in my daughters block. This did not take into account any cost of living expenses, travel, entertainment etc etc. The UL campus is plainly generating tens of millions for the university and the local economy and Waterford is missing out on this much need annual cash injection.

For those lucky enough to be able to go on to third level education, getting to university is a very big deal and something that both student and family should be very proud of. I know that it was a day I will be very proud of and yet in the back of my mind I was annoyed that my daughter did not have the chance or the opportunity to go to a university in Waterford City! I have after all been in Waterford City for nearly fifteen years and I had hoped that this issue would have been resolved by now.

Is it not ironic that the City that is promoted as “Ireland’s Oldest” still does NOT have a university of its own?

What have we been doing for the last 1100 years!

The more the day went on the more I had time to reflect on why Waterford City has not yet been designated a University City and why my daughter and so many others like her, have had to figuratively emigrate from their place of residence to attend a university. I feel that it is a shocking indictment that so many are forced to leave and yet we do not hear enough about this annual exodus from our City and County by our own young and talented people. Once gone many will never come back and yes there are economics at play as to where or not they come back but at the very least we need to create a society where they have a choice.

Since returning from the orientation day I have meet so many other parents who feel exactly the same way and I am aware that this ongoing issue has been around now for decades and not just a few years.

Surely, we have to get this issue sorted once and for all.

I am in the camp that says a university in Waterford City would be good for the City, the County and the south east region.

There can be absolutely NO doubt that a University City is perceived to be a much better place to live, invest and educate. And if the existing education institution is worth its salt then moving from a college or a tech or an institute of technology to university status will be a good thing and will be something we could all be proud of. What we do not want is a fudged solution and I fear that is what may well materialise unless we once and for all get our collective act together. It still seems that those people who will ultimately have the final say are working with the “wrong types of bricks” – see last week column and blog!

Yes, our WIT is an excellent technological institution but surely we will ALL be better off as a University City. I do hear people championing and defending institutes of technology and giving shining examples such MIT (in the USA). But let us face facts we are not the US and we will never be the US, so we will never see another MIT outside of MIT.

This ongoing saga has seen many boards of management come and go at WIT and we must hope that the current board will deliver for Waterford when others have not, and that the current board will learn the lessons from previous boards when we were lead to believe that “This was the way to go” then all of a sudden “No, we need to turn full circle and this is now the way to” and so on.

The bottom line is that the clock is very much tricking and the longer we leave this issue the further down the road the ultimate goal will be. My own son is now in third year of secondary school and I fear that he too will have to emigrate to attend a university.

The current government promised a university for Waterford in the current “Programme for Government” and I may be wrong but to deliver on that promise between now and a General Election in April of 2016 seems to be fantasy politics.

Too many generations are missing out, our economy is missing out, and our City is missing out. Surely, this is not rocket science!