David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I too want to raise the issue of the funding application from Waterford Airport towards the runway extension. I have been fair-minded when it comes to Government funding for projects in the south-east and in Waterford but I have to put it to the Tánaiste that there is an urgency in relation to this funding application. There is huge pressure on Dublin Airport. We need a counterbalance in the regions. It is make-or-break time for the airport in Waterford. It either gets this funding or it does not. Three local authorities in the region - Wexford, Waterford and Kilkenny - are putting money up, private sector investment is coming and the missing piece is funding from the Department. I have spoken informally to the Minister for Transport and I do not get the sense that there is an urgency from him or from the Department. I appeal to Deputy Micheál Martin, as the head of his party and Tánaiste, and I appeal to the Taoiseach, to bring an urgency to this because if the funding is not forthcoming, I do not see a future, or a viable one, for that airport. I ask the Tánaiste, in the interests of regional development, to look at that issue.

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