Deputy John Deasy says the Government’s decision to release funding to allow for a limited but vital runway extension at Waterford Airport is a “very significant” breakthrough.

Having been working to secure this investment for a number of months, dealing directly with Transport Minister Leo Varadkar, the Waterford Fine Gael TD had argued that a relatively modest outlay by the state could yield major benefits for the region’s economy.

The same capital expenditure grant of €405,000 was originally approved in late 2011 only to be frozen after Aer Arann’s decision to pull out of Waterford from January this year. Following a meeting with the airport board late last month, the Minister – despite the instability within the aviation industry – has now given Waterford Co Council the go-ahead to CPO the required 18 acres of land.

With the agreement being dependent on a contribution from a number of companies, along with local authorities, in the region, “In committing this funding I think the Department feels relatively happy with the private sector involvement in meeting the balance of the project cost, including laying the new stretch of runway,” Deputy Deasy says. 

“There’s also an acknowledgement that the people who have worked at Waterford Airport for the past four years have used every cent to try to pave the way for additional expansion to bring in different kinds of jet aircraft, including small jets, and to connect to London in particular.”

The additional lands are also needed to comply with international safety standards, including the provision of a runway end safety area. The 150m runway extension itself will, Deputy Deasy expects, “greatly improve the prospects of attracting a carrier to operate the Waterford–Luton service.”

Applauding the airport’s proactive approach despite the challenges it has faced in recent times, Mr Deasy added: “I don’t think there’s anyone in Waterford or the South East who doesn’t realise how critical this piece of infrastructure is for the region, for the city, for the county – an area that is suffering very badly.

“Psychologically it’s very important that we move to ensure that the airport is viable going into the next five or 10 years at the very least. Direct air access to our biggest trading partner is extremely important, and Waterford Airport supports considerable direct and indirect employment – not least in terms of tourism, which accounted for over half the inbound traffic from the Luton route.”

Now, after what’s been a lengthy process of negotiation, Deputy Deasy hopes things can progress swiftly, with a CPO operative and the contracts already agreed. Though the transfer of lands to the Airport will require a Section 183 Resolution by Co Councillors, officials believe this will not be a problem and that work can commence within a matter of months.

The Fine Gael Parliamentary Party has unanimously supported a motion by Waterford’s John Deasy requesting that the Department of Public Expenditure & Reform conduct an analysis of the potential impact substantial increases in commercial rates may have on struggling businesses.

The proposal, tabled in the context of the ongoing revaluation process, was passed at Wednesday night’s (July 3) meeting of TDs and Senators in Leinster House.

Deputy Deasy, who has alerted cabinet colleagues to the precarious position on the ground, says the message to Minister Brendan Howlin couldn’t be clearer – and insists the prospect of pushing businesses beyond breaking point can’t be ignored any longer by Government.

“We can’t sit back and allow businesses go to the wall because of rateable valuation increases introduced on our watch,” Mr Deasy said afterwards.

“There are countless examples of how this is affecting retailers in my home town of Dungarvan – a situation mirrored elsewhere in Waterford, not least in the city.

“You’re talking about petrol stations needing an annual turnover of around €1.3 million just to remain viable – or a newsagent needing to put €1.2m through the tills just to cover its €50,000 rates bill. It’s simply unsustainable.”

Deputy Deasy added: “There’s new legislation due to come before the Dáil later this year that will pave the way for self-assessment and hopefully a fairer system that reflects business realities. I’ve already called on the Taoiseach to have the Valuation (Amendment) Bill, 2012 expedited through the Oireachtas.

“In the meantime, given the knock-on effects this revaluation process will have in terms of a lower tax take, and unemployment benefit payments, in my view the Department is now obliged to examine the consequences of the current valuation review at both a micro and macro level.”

The Oireachtas committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation has been told by Government TD John Deasy that flexibility must be found within transport budgets to finally fund an extension of the runway at Waterford Airport.

During a discussion of the South-East Economic Development Strategy Report, the Waterford Deputy stressed “It is a critical time now for the airport” – describing the fact that its manager Graham Doyle is leaving to become an assistant secretary in the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport as “significant” and “bad news, in my opinion.”

He observed that the airport has “three options”, ranging in cost from €1.25 million to €7m, to the €10m it would cost to land 737s. “Realistically” we are talking about the cheapest, Mr Deasy said, equating it to “the cost of a three-bedroom semi-detached house in parts of this city a few years ago. It is not a lot of money.

“As far as the Department is concerned, the case is being made, successfully, that it is worth investing in the airport.” To bring in jet aircraft and attract a London carrier, “The people who have worked there for the past four years have used every penny to try to lay the ground at the airport for additional expansion at the north and south ends of the runway.”

Mr Deasy added, “I am having a discussion on the matter with the Minister… If we are all of the opinion that the airport is a key piece of infrastructure then we must examine the entirety of the transport budget and ask ourselves one question, namely, whether we are prioritising what we should prioritise?

“In that context, the answer is ‘No’.… My point is that budgets within the Department are not flexible enough,” he said.

Deputy Deasy insisted: “We have to have an urgent discussion within the Department,” suggesting, for example, that “It may not be wise for us to continue spending millions of euro on something like Smarter Travel when a vital piece of infrastructure for the southeast is not being funded sufficiently, and it does not involve a lot of money.”

The committee heard from, among others, Waterford City Manager Michael Walsh, Waterford Chamber President Nora Widger, and Senan Cooke of Dunhill Rural Enterprises. About the strategy, which is nearing completion, Mr Deasy thanked Senator David Cullinane “for his work on putting all of this together. It is valuable.”

>> For the transcript of the full committee discussion, click here (pages 3-12)

With the Department of Education confirming there will be no change to the means test for students starting third-level in September, Waterford Deputy John Deasy says the notion of imputing income from property “must be dumped for good”, and not simply deferred.

“It makes no sense to talk about including ‘non-productive’ capital assets such as farm land and business premises when assessing a family’s annual income. There is no relationship between the value of land and the income derived from it,” the Fine Gael TD insisted.

Recognising that the proposals would have a disproportionate effect in the dairying heartland that is Waterford and the South East, Mr Deasy’s hardline stance was applauded by IFA President John Bryan at the height of the controversy in February.

The Waterford deputy warned that the issue had the potential to seriously damage the coalition, and called on senior figures within his own party to stop Mr Quinn’s idea in its tracks.

Other rural deputies rowed in and the Labour plan was held up before it reached cabinet. “It’s time to put an end this for once and for all,” Deputy Deasy says.

Fine Gael TD John Deasy says senior consultants at Ardkeen have questions to answer as to why, having spearheaded a public campaign for the retention of the South East Hospital Group, they dramatically changed tack mid-campaign and entered into negotiations that ultimately led to Waterford being linked to Cork University Hospital.

Last November, a week before they met with organisers of what became the ‘Save Waterford’ campaign, Waterford Today published a front-page story in which Deputy Deasy warned it was “time people began questioning the individuals who are responsible for representing WRH.”

He did so having arranged meetings between specialists at Ardkeen, senior HSE officials, and government TDs from the region – only to find “the performance of these senior consultants was underwhelming to say the least.

“They are the ones who needed to make the argument based on medical best practice and they failed miserably. In my opinion others from the regional hospital need to step in immediately to rescue this situation before it’s too late,” he said at the time.

Now, with the Higgins Report’s recommendations for six new groupings adopted by Government, he wants to know what prompted the consultants to do a u-turn.

“For six months the emphasis was on keeping the South East Hospital Group together, with the priorities being patient safety and the future of Waterford Regional Hospital. We had reached agreement politically for that to happen. But for some reason the consultants in Ardkeen decided after six months of campaigning that it wasn’t the best option.

“They need to explain why not, particularly given that the agreement reached to keep the South East Hospital Group together incorporated almost every element of the deal finally reached with regard to Cork,” Mr Deasy said.

Deputy John Deasy says Waterford Airport’s importance as a Search and Rescue (SAR) base has been underlined by call-out figures over the past three years — particularly night-time helicopter missions.

The Fine Gael TD cited the number of emergencies the crew has been tasked to over the 2010–2012 period as clear evidence of the facility’s critical presence on the Southeast and South coast. It was the second busiest base after Shannon.

It’s three years since a cabinet proposal to limit and reduce the Irish Coast Guard 24-hour SAR operation at Waterford to daylight hours only, resulted in a public outcry — forcing a row-back by the then Minister.

The case for maintaining round-the-clock cover at Waterford has been cemented since the aborted move to cut back the helicopter service to a 12-hour one was aired in March 2010.

The value of the Killowen facility was confirmed in figures gleaned from the Department of Transport in reply to a recent Dáil question by Mr Deasy (see tables below).

“The recommendation made three years ago was based on a very low 2008 call-out rate for the Waterford helicopter. It’s clear now that that figure was an aberration. The call-out statistics since have shown that had cover been curtailed it would have been a mistake — and it would have probably cost lives,” Mr Deasy says.

He noted that call-outs have been fairly evenly spread between the four SAR bases around the coastline, “indicating that Waterford as a location, like the others, has been pretty much spot on”, covering an area stretching from south Wicklow through to Glandore and 50 miles southwards.

The service has been run on a 24/7 basis since 2002, responding to well over 1,000 taskings and saving many lives. Indeed, while filming for the RTÉ series ‘Rescue 117’ in 2010, the Waterford crew conducted 18 separate rescue missions on camera.

Mr Deasy concluded: “The numbers prove a 24/7 emergency response from Waterford is essential and that the SAR helicopter must remain at the regional airport.”

John Deasy

I've let it be known within the Parliamentary Party, and publicly, that I intend to strongly oppose plans to means test many farmers out of the third-level maintenance grants scheme.

Conscious that the proposals would have a disproportionate effect in the dairying heartland that is Waterford and the South East, this could be a make or break issue for FG backbenchers.

Many feel this issue has the potential to drive a wedge between the Coalition partners. I'm not alone in contrasting the proposed change in grant rules with Labour’s protectionist approach to public sector pay. Indeed, if Ruairí Quinn spent a bit more time dealing with the unions and less time trying to tax farmers out of existence we would all be better off.

John Deasy

When the Public Accounts Committee recently called Frank Ryan, the chief executive of Enterprise Ireland, I took the opportunity to ask him about its position on university-led indigenous job creation.

I began by noting that Mr Brendan Murphy, the president of Cork Institute of Technology, said last summer that creating a vibrant technological university sector is the most important significant recommendation in the national strategy for higher education to 2030. 

Mr Murphy highlighted how higher education can make a major contribution to the development of indigenous enterprise by pointing to CIT's association with Enterprise Ireland in operating the Genesis programme, which has resulted in 200 start-up companies, over €100 million in investment and the creation of almost 2,500 jobs. 

The HEA and the Department of Education and Skills are adjudicating on applications for the creation of more technological universities, including the joint application for just such a designation by Waterford and Carlow ITs. "If that is where Mr. Ryan thinks the emphasis should be, what role does Enterprise Ireland, with the Department and the HEA, play to deliver on that?" I wondered, saying "the creation of these technological universities is important when it results in such figures."

Mr Ryan said in reply: "We have a long history of working directly with universities and the institutes of technology which we see as an engine of growth in their regions. It is not Enterprise Ireland's responsibility to direct Government policy. We are required to implement it."

John Deasy

I RAISED the increasing concentration of IDA-supported jobs in Dublin, Cork and Galway on the floor of the Dáil last Thursday afternoon.

I tabled the topic on foot of last week’s comments by IDA Ireland chief executive Barry O’Leary who maintained that, even with EU Regional Aid incentives, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to convince companies to invest outside of these three cities (see separate post).

I described the annual announcement as to where IDA-backed foreign direct investment went the previous year as entirely predictable; noting NUI Maynooth research that shows as many as 82% of overseas jobs created in the past six years have gone to the aforementioned urban centres.

Minister of State for Small Business, John Perry — standing in for Enterprise minister Richard Bruton, who was attending a special Cabinet meeting on jobs — said he appreciated my concerns.

However, his response largely focused on defending Ireland’s need for regional aid, rather than correcting what’s wrong with the skewed policies currently in place.

I stressed that the existing EU regional aid guidelines clearly aren’t working, and haven’t been for some time — wondering why the Government hadn’t sought to have them amended already.

The Department of Enterprise is preparing a submission to the European Commission on drawing up new aid guidelines for the post-2013 period. I said the obvious question for Minister Bruton is how is he going to incentivise companies to locate in the regions that need investment most?

Having come to the conclusion that very little thought is being given to the issue, I feel the IDA is quite content to announce yearly job creation totals for Ireland Incorporated and leave it at that — without tackling the massive disparity in where these jobs are based.

As an example of how lopsided this regional imbalance has become, I pointed out that the southeast — unlike the Border/Midlands/West (BMW) region — doesn’t qualify for the highest levels of investment aid. This is despite having almost 19% unemployment, according to the latest CSO figures.

I said to John Perry that the Minister and the Taoiseach need to start thinking about where IDA-sponsored jobs are being created and where they’re not being created — and called on them to redraw the regional aid map to target unemployment blackspots like Waterford.

*READ WHAT JOHN HAD TO SAY IN FULL, AND THE MINISTER'S REPLY, HERE

HEA report separate from Waterford-Carlow ITs bid

It should be made it crystal clear that proposals by the Higher Education Authority to merge third-level colleges will have no bearing whatsoever on Waterford’s application for technological university status.

The Irish Independent and Irish Times both reported on the HEA’s plans to reduce the number of third-level colleges funded by the State from 39 (in which 170,000 students are currently enrolled) to 24.

The objective is to eliminate waste, increase efficiencies, and ultimately save money – not surprising given that identical courses are being offered by colleges in close proximity to each other at present.

However, it's important to stress that this new amalgamation blueprint is entirely separate from the joint application being made by Waterford and Carlow Institutes of Technology for a technological university of the south-east.

Reacting to the press reports, the Chief Executive of the HEA, Tom Boland, assured me that the application submitted for technological university status for this region is unaffected by these proposals. (He also said later on Wednesday that there will be no institutes closed, just reconfigured.)

Waterford is regarded as one of the best ITs in the country, with massive infrastructural development having taken place at the Cork Road site, and also the West Campus at Carriganore, over the past decade. This should ensure it’s to the fore in a streamlined third-level sector.