Matt Shanahan Demands Fair Funding for Waterford in Budget Debate

As a member of the regional group I welcome the budget announced yesterday and I think the phrase a wartime budget is apt I particularly welcome the increases in health and education spend I do think I share some of my colleague's reservations that possibly an opportunity has been lost to create structural change to encourage migration to the region's remote working and looking at affordable housing and the overall talent of rebalancing Ireland and I hope that's something that you will look at I would also highlight the 10.1 billion capital allocation which is also welcome but I would ask you will the South East get its 8.89% per capita pro rata share and I would remind you of the last capital tracking index from 2018 to 2022 of large scale capital enterprise in that the South East got 97 million Euro, Cork Kerry got 902 million and Dublin got 5 billion. 15 times per capita more the major road projects announced yesterday I'm sure are welcome to constituents there but nothing to mention an upgrade to the N24 to create a southern linkage from Ross Lair through Watford through Tipper area or Cork onto Limerick to join Galway and Mayo. This would see a step change in southern regional road connectivity benefiting multiple counties. It's affordable it makes economic sense it's absolutely consistent with green thinking improving road and possible railings to the ports of Waterford, Ross Lair, Cork and Fines and Limerick. No mention of specific funding or recognition of Waterford as the future fulcrum of the South East regional economic activity and driver of same. No announcement on our URDF infrastructure funding of the North Keys project. Nothing to signal upgrading of UHW as the lowest funded Model 4 in the country. And I correct the record Taoiseach from the last day there is no second cardiac lab diagnostic activity taking place in Waterford at this time. Our cardiac waiting list is growing exponentially at the moment. Beyond that, nothing to recognise the primacy of WIT in the South East Technical University proposal, the most highly functioning IoT in the country. It garners the highest EU research funding of all the IoTs. Yet the recent transformation grant announced at €5.1 million places it behind all the other regions who already have a national university. That hardly seems fair Taoiseach. We have been awaiting capital refurbishments and developments for over 30 years. Also, our Waterford metropolitan area strategic plan, our border has not been extended. We cannot take in Tremor or New Ross while the borders in Limerick and Cork have been extended. So, again, I ask you Taoiseach, what is the Government's future attitude and commitment to fairness for Waterford in the South East? I ask you, do we matter in health, in education and economic revival? The South East is presently the worst performing region in the country and, prior to Covid, Waterford had the highest city unemployment in the country. Will you, Taoiseach, commit to future funding fairness for Waterford and the South East? Will you commit that it will be delivered in the lifetime of this Government? Thank you, Deputy Shanahan. First of all, I thank the Deputy for his question and for raising the issue in relation to Waterford in particular. And to say at the outset that any previous Government I was involved in put a lot of investment into Waterford actually as a former Minister for Education, particularly in terms of Waterford Institute of Technology. The new lands that we purchased back then were absolutely essential to its growth and development, and has grown and developed into a very fine Institute of Technology, which I believe can now move into becoming a technological university in association with Carlow. I think that is essential for Waterford and I think progress has been made in relation to that. I think Waterford, there's about 7,000 people now working across 36 IDA companies in Waterford. I think it has great potential for further foreign direct investment. And also in terms of its Indigenous base. I think there are some very good quality companies that can grow and develop. And also working with the Institute and the technology research base of the Institute and other attributes, that it can help the growth with Enterprise Ireland of entrepreneurial companies in Waterford and more generally across the South East. I think it was a former Minister of Martin Cullen, who was probably responsible for some very substantial and significant infrastructure investment in Waterford at the time, which I picked up in recent times knocking on a few doors below that people had nostalgic memories of him in Waterford in terms of that. I get your point in terms of the future. We want to think of how in the future we advance this. I do think the technological university process is moving on and is advancing on the hospital front. And I think, by the way, the North Keys development, I think you know that Minister Darabine is drafting a member for government in relation to a funding package for that project. The Urban Regeneration Development Fund provides opportunities for a number of projects of that kind to be resourced and developed. And, you know, we will proactively move to try and see how we can help with Waterford to develop that exciting project. The second cat lab in Waterford, there's been a recent, you know, it's gone out to tender. That is a step forward. The deadline for the receipt of applications is the 16th of November. And yes, it is envisaged that the building will commence in Q1. I know you're going to be tenacious and you're going to keep at it in terms of the timeline, but it is happening and it will happen. The five million for the technological university is important for the Southeast of Ireland project. That's important money. Let's get it spent and let's get it delivered. But again, I think Waterford and Carlow IT, they have moved to an advanced stage of the process of establishing that technological university. That has, I think, very significant implications across the board. We do have significant commitments to the programme for government for the development of cities. Waterford is critical. Connectivity is critical. Both road connectivity and obviously the growing importance of Ross Lair and so on. That connectivity that you just referred to is very, very important indeed, as is public transport. And I know the Minister for Transport has significant ambitions around city public transport networks, as well as rail more generally. A bit of Shanahan. Thank you Taoiseach and I thank you for your comments. And I would agree with you Taoiseach that it is probably over a decade when Martin Cullen was there, when Waterford could last look to any kind of significant capital infrastructural spend from government. And I am probably a testament that I am standing here, that that is the case. I think that we in Waterford and the Southeast are absolutely ready to play our part in the economic revival of Ireland. We have fantastic innovation clusters down there, vibrant food agri sector. We have a college that is performing way, way above other colleges in the country, as is our hospital. And all we are asking for Taoiseach at the end of the day is acknowledgement and fairness. And, you know, we are not looking for a handout, a hand up Taoiseach, for us in this part of the country to make a really significant drive to the regional recovery of Ireland. And I think we can play a major role. We are ready to do that. And we are looking for yours and the government's commitment to fund that. And we will absolutely then be in primacy in the country. And thank you again, Taoiseach. Thank you, Deputy Shanahan. And Taoiseach to conclude on this. Again, I thank the Deputy. And I think fairness is a valid ask. That is a valid ask. That is a valid ask. The programme for government identifies and recognises Waterford, you know, as a regional city. And investment will have to follow that designation. The recovery fund in the budget of 3.4 billion. That is over and above the COVID contingency fund. And that does provide opportunities in terms of infrastructural development, in terms of reskilling and retraining. And in terms of supporting investment and jobs. There are some very good quality companies in this South East and in Waterford in particular. My experience has been that it is important to leverage those quality companies to both create your own Indigenous entrepreneurial activities, In other words, many people from multinationals have gone on to create their own companies, as you know yourself. And I think we have to work on that agenda. I often felt that Waterford could have done better on financial services, for example. And in terms of the development of financial services from the FDI perspective. And that is something I would be keen on. We want regional development. We need to rebalance the country's economy. All right, thank you, Tisha for your time as well. And that means really doing far more for cities like Waterford, vis-à-vis what has happened over the last two to three decades. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.