Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)

From listening to the Minister of State and scanning his speech as he read it, it strikes me as a bad mash-up between "Yes Minister" and "Computer says no". It is shifting the goalposts every single time. It is putting unfair demands on Waterford and the south east that simply are not placed on other regional airports around the State. No other regional airport is forced to jump through these hoops one after another. The Minister of State is quite right to point out that the costs have risen at an alarming pace in the time that has been wasted because the Government will not invest. It will not do what is needed here, which is to invest in an airport runway extension that means this airport can actually stand up and take the kinds of flights we need into the south east.

I said it before and will say it again: this is about regional development. We need the investment. We need the Government to make the decision, and stop prevaricating and wasting time, because the costs are only going one way. The longer this is let go, the higher the costs will ultimately be. Let us invest now and invest well in Waterford.

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