Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I was happy to support the Minister of State's visit to Waterford Airport last week. It was opportune, given what happened at Dublin Airport over the past weekend. As she is probably aware, a media probe in recent days reported that it seems private investment of approximately €8 million has been secured for Waterford Airport. Local authority funding of €2 million is additional to the Government's previous commitment to provide €5 million for the development of the runway extension and ancillary buildings at the airport. This will allow Boeing 737s and Airbus A340s to land there for the first time. The visit of the Minister of State was welcome, but I would like to hear very shortly that once shareholder agreement is hopefully reached and an application is submitted, the Department will be ready to go. I ask that this money not be tied up as part of a public procurement piece in terms of development. I request that it be given to Waterford Airport in the form of grant moneys and that the airport will be able to spend it as it wants, as was the case with national aviation funding that was paid directly to Kerry Airport last year in the form of subvention funding. Otherwise, we will be caught up in a plethora of public procurement issues and difficulties.

The cost of building the runway extension has increased by nearly €2 million since it was first mooted approximately 18 months ago. Potentially, it might increase again. The people of Waterford and the south east and I will be expecting that the Government will provide for any shortfall and that no one will come back and state that the estimate for the cost of the runway extension has gone beyond the envelop that was previously discussed. I remind the Minister of State that €160 million was put into a national aviation package more than two years ago and that Waterford Airport was completely bypassed in that regard. The stopgap funding that was being paid up to 2019 was also withdrawn.

What has happened at Dublin Airport has shown for the first time that our aviation policy is flawed. Too much traffic is going through Dublin. We are trying to build capacity in one place, and we are not looking after the regional airports such as Waterford, Cork, Shannon and potentially Sligo and Ireland West Airport Knock. I ask the Minister of State to have a serious review of this matter. It is stated in the programme for Government that it is the Government's intention that circumstances in the south-east region will improve and that Waterford will be the driving economic power there. In order to have a functioning region, we need to have a functioning airport. That is long past due.

The retention of rescue services in the south-east region is also very important. I was glad to hear the Minister of State reiterate that Waterford will remain a 24-7 base in the new configuration. It is very important that we move on to the next step. We have been too long waiting for this to happen.