As the strange year that was 2020 draws to a close, we look back at the stories which dominated the news agenda in Waterford.
While much of the news coverage was inevitability Covid-related, there were plenty of other happenings locally which made for a busy news year, most notably the General Election and progress on the North Quays development – widely hailed to be a ‘game changer’ for the city and the South East region.
A full news review will air on WLR on Wednesday and Thursday December 30th and 31st between 10 at 12pm.
COVID-19 by Sinead Aherne
Covid-19, the single biggest story across the world in 2020. It started to emerge even before the year began. On the 31st of December 2019, a cluster of cases of pneumonia was reported in Wuhan, in the Hubei Province of China. A novel coronavirus was eventually identified.
Waterford made national headlines at the end of January. A young Chinese student had travelled from Wuhan to Waterford. At that time, the disease had killed 80 people worldwide. He was placed in self-isolation as a precaution.
https://www.wlrfm.com/2020/01/27/chinese-student-in-self-isolation-in-waterford-city/
It was another month before the first case was confirmed in the Republic of Ireland, it emerged on the 29th of February that a male in the east of the country had contracted the disease. He had travelled from an affected area in northern Italy.
Within days the first cluster of cases was confirmed in Ireland and on the 6th of March nursing homes across Waterford decided to ban visitors with immediate effect
https://www.wlrfm.com/2020/03/06/visiting-bans-in-place-at-several-waterford-nursing-homes/
The first case at University Hospital Waterford was confirmed on the 10th of March.
https://www.wlrfm.com/2020/03/11/the-first-confirmed-case-of-covid-19-in-uhw-is-being-treated-in-the-isolation-ward-in-the-dunmore-wing/
The following day, Chief Medical Officer, Tony Holohan announced the first death of a patient with Covid-19. That same day the WHO said Covid-19 had become a pandemic - it was becoming clear that life as we knew it was about to change drastically.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar spoke to the nation at 11.29 am on Thursday March 12th from Washington DC. He announced new measures to stop the spread of Covid-19.
By the end of March there were 38 cases in Waterford. Two weeks later, on the 14th of April it had reached 100. It would be another four and a half months, on the 2nd of September, before the total hit 200.
In fact, there were 30 days in-a-row during July and August when there were no cases at all recorded in Waterford. But the numbers rose steadily during September, partly due to increased testing and a significant outbreak at a meat factory. The numbers levelled off during the month before rising again in October.
By the 16th of October, the total number of cases recorded since the outbreak began reached 500, it had doubled to 1000 within six weeks.
The highest number of cases in any one day in Waterford was on the 12th of November, 43 cases were confirmed by the National Public Health Emergency Team.
There have been fewer than 5 deaths in Waterford since the outbreak began. For confidentiality reasons the exact number is not released when it is less than 5. According to the CSO those deaths occurred at the start of May and in the week ending the 5th of June (figures correct as of Dec 16th).
The pandemic has had a huge impact upon health services. Healthcare workers were on the frontline at University Hospital Waterford and at other acute facilities across the country. Grace Rothwell is the General Manager of University Hospital Waterford:
"What a year and what a phenomenal workforce we have. It's rare that we thank staff for all that they do but, we would never have got through the year but for the staff, the teamwork, the hard work of our staff."
As of December 25th there have been 1,284 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Waterford.
Election 2020 by Julie Smyth
The general election which took place on Saturday February 8th was remarkable from beginning to end. The first election to be held on a Saturday since 1918 it was always going to be unpredictable with so many voters eager for “change”.
And change there was - with the results marking an historic break in the two-party system, dominated by Fianna Fail and Fine Gael for so long.
Nationally, Sinn Fein won the most first preference votes and 37 seats - the best result for the party in its current form - just one seat behind Fianna Fail on 38. Fine Gael came third in both seats (35) and in first preference votes.
Prior to the election, the leaders of those parties had long ruled out forming a coalition government with Sinn Féin which meant the process of trying to elect the 33rd Dáil was protracted to say the least. The newly-elected TDs met in the Dáil on February 20th, but it took until June for a programme for Government to be agreed between Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and the Green Party.
In Waterford the winds of political change were no less stormy, for the first time, Fine Gael failed to elect a TD in Waterford, while Sinn Fein’s David Cullinane recorded the largest first preference vote ever recorded in the county - topping the poll with 20,569 first-preference votes – almost twice the quota.
11 candidates stood for election: Mary Butler, FF; Eddie Mulligan, FF; Damien Geoghegan, FG; John Cummins, FG; Marc O’Cathasaigh, GP; Ronan Cleary, Aontú; Una Dunphy, SPBP; David Cullinane, SF: Bernadette Philips, Ind; Matt Shanahan, Ind; and John Pratt, Labour. Sitting TDs Minister of State and Independent Alliance TD John Halligan and Fine Gael TD John Deasy did not stand for re-election.
It was a relatively short campaign, polls indicated that the sitting TDs Cullinane and Butler would be returned but the third and fourth seats were much harder to predict. In the end, after a long night and seven counts at the WIT Dome the final three seats were filled in the following order: Mary Butler received 11,233 votes, Matt Shanahan 10,708 and Marc O’Cathasaigh 9,738.
https://www.wlrfm.com/2020/02/10/fg-to-have-no-waterford-td-for-first-time-in-history/
Controversies by Julie Smyth
David Culliane and 'Up the Ra'
The year was not without its political controversies either. A mere two days after being Waterford's poll topper, David Cullinane was back in the WLR studios to offer an apology to people who were offended by the “Up the Ra” and "Tiocfaidh ár La" comments he made at a party function in a Waterford pub after being elected.
The speech had been videoed and circulated on social media.
But the deputy described the furore over the remarks as a “storm in a teacup” which, he said, was being used by people who didn't like Sinn Féin to make more of it than it was.
https://www.wlrfm.com/2020/02/11/cullinane-defends-use-of-up-the-ra-during-victory-speech/
John Cummins and Golfgate
One of THE most controversial stories in Irish politics this year revolved around a dinner, a golf society and the picturesque town of Clifden, Co Galway on August 19, 2020.
The gathering of over 80 guests in a Clifden hotel came just one day after the Government announced new lockdown measures to stop the spread of Covid 19. The public health advice at the time was that formal or informal events or parties should not be organised in hotel premises.
But that didn't stop the large gathering of people, including the Agriculture Minister, a High Court judge and a number of TDs and senators, from attending the function and clearly breaching the guidelines at the time. The public outcry was huge, with much anger directed at those who had attended.
Amongst those present was Waterford senator John Cummins who subsequently lost the party whip over the incident.
https://www.wlrfm.com/2020/09/03/fine-gaels-john-cummins-gives-first-interview-after-oireachtas-golf-controversy/
Eddie Mulligan and company disqualification
In January, during the general election campaign, it emerged that Fianna Fáil councillor and election candidate Eddie Mulligan served on the board of directors of a local theatre company despite a High Court order disqualifying him from doing so.
The Irish Times reported that Eddie Mulligan spent 17 months as a voluntary board member at Garter Lane after receiving the disqualification.
The High Court disqualified Councillor Mulligan from acting as a company director in January 2017 due to the management of a family hair salon. The ban remains in place until 2024.
https://www.wlrfm.com/2020/01/22/eddie-mulligan-garter-lane/
North Quays by Eoghan Dalton
2020 was the year when all the talk of Waterford’s North Quays development finally turned to action.
Planning permission for the eight hectare site, encompassing a 15-storey hotel and conference centre, twin blocks of office space rising to seven storeys and 300 apartments was granted in July.
In November the Government committed €110.6 million for vital infrastructure to support the development. The package of €110.6m includes €80.6m from the Urban Regeneration Development Fund and €30m from the National Transport Authority. The funding paves the way for the construction of a new pedestrian bridge over the river, new road interchanges on to the North Quays site and the relocation of the train station.
Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien described the investment as one of the single biggest investments ever in the South East.
https://www.wlrfm.com/2020/11/10/e110m-urdf-announced-for-waterfords-north-quays/
The developers will also begin work on the Michael Street site. These plans too were subject to change during the year, with the revised development presented to councillors in July
The plans now include a 13- bed hotel, apartments, town houses and pocket parks, with a scaled-down retail offering.
In December, with the public funding secured, it was over to Waterford councillors to vote on transferring the land titles from the council over to the developer.
The handover was for a total of 9 million euro and includes the site of the proposed Michael Street development.
https://www.wlrfm.com/2020/12/10/north-quays-site-transferred-to-falcon-real-estate/
All eyes now turn to 2021, when construction is expected to get underway before the summer.
Rescues and Policing by Sinead Aherne
2020 was a busy year for rescue services locally.
Brian Kavanagh, the Deputy Launching Authority at Tramore RNLI said their call outs more than doubled in 2020 from 10 or 11 a year to 26.
"We've had several kite surfers that we've gone out for, we've had boats broken down on three separate occasions, we've had numerous paddleboarders in difficulty, we've also had numerous occasions where we've had to go out for swimmers in difficulty.
"We've also had people going missing and we've unfortunately we recovered two bodies from the water."
Helmsman at Tramore RNLI Fergal McGrath said the shout which stands out for him is from January when they rescued a swimmer from the Guillamine.
"We found him face down in the water. He was very lucky that day because the response was exceptionally quick, everything seemed to go right. We recovered him from the water and immediately started on CPR."
He said they were lucky that they were able to revive him.
In Dunmore East, Neville says the rescue of a father, daughter and their two little dogs near Woodstown was special for him.
However, the Lily B was the big one of 2020. Neville Murphy says their small little lifeboats succeeded in towing a humongous ship in horrendous seas. "That operation lasted 12 hours, that highlights again the dedication of our volunteers."
https://www.wlrfm.com/2020/10/21/watch-video-shows-conditions-facing-lifeboat-crews-at-mouth-of-waterford-harbour/
The notable rescues weren't just confined to the water, South Eastern Mountain Rescue Association were busier than ever.
They had their 500th rescue in January, quickly followed by their 501st.
https://www.wlrfm.com/2020/01/20/semra-carry-out-501st-rescue-in-comeragh-mountains/
PRO Liz Browne said in 40 years SEMRA reached call out number 400, "it only took three years to get from 400 to 500."
"I would imagine we will hit probably 600 next year because the number of call outs this year has increased exponentially."
Policing the pandemic
Restrictions on social and economic life were introduced in March as part of efforts to flatten the curve and slow the spread of coronavirus in Ireland. People were asked not to travel more than 2 km from their homes apart from going for essential supplies, medical appointments or taking care of others.
It was extended to 5km in May with people being allowed to travel anywhere within their county in June. It meant thousands of additional checkpoints were carried out in Waterford.
Inspector Gavin Hegarty from Waterford Garda Station said they had several roles to play during the pandemic:
"Initially in March. when the country effectively shut down, we had to take some very quick and urgent steps to support our communities first of all."
https://www.wlrfm.com/2020/10/07/waterford-gardai-urge-people-to-allow-extra-time-for-essential-journeys-as-checkpoints-are-put-in-place-across-the-county/
He said the people of Waterford deserve a lot of credit:
"When the initial lockdown came in we saw literally traffic volumes fall off a cliff. People really, really bought into and people stayed at home, there really was a very strong element of buy-in from our communities."
He said crime patterns changed:
"Burglaries started to reduce but unfortunately there were shifts in other directions as well. We saw significant increases in domestic abuse and domestic violence in the home.
"As part of that we put in place Operation Faoiseamh, which is there to support our victims of domestic abuse in order to keep them safe."
There was a 30% increase in the numbers of people caught driving under the influence of drink and drugs during the first 11 months of 2020, the amount of searches increased by 60% and the number of vehicles seized jumped by a third.
Listen back to the news review in full here:
