News Review of 2023: The Top Stories In Waterford (PART 3)
As we bid farewell to 2023, Waterford looks back on a year packed with stories that touched hearts and stirred conversations.
From movie magic at the Oscars, to local struggles and achievements, each tale has left its mark on our community.
Join us as we revisit the highs, lows, and important moments that made up the fabric of Waterford's news, events, and sports in 2023.
WLR's News, Current Affairs and Sports Review of the Year, featuring these and many more of the year's great stories and quirky features, airs on WLR from Wednesday to Friday December 27th to 29th between 10 and 12pm.
Cartamundi closes in Waterford…
There was much shock in March 2023 when staff Cartamundi on the city’s Cork Road were told of the company plans to wind down operations over the summer months - with a planned complete closure by the end of August.
The multinational toy and board game company (formerly Hasbro and MB Ireland) had been in Waterford for 45 years, and manufactured games such as Monopoly, Twister, Connect 4, Trivial Pursuit and Scrabble.
The Waterford plant was the largest European games manufacturing plant in the Cartamundi group, employing 234 people….
Dymphna Nugent reported on the story for WLR…
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Official opening of the South East Palliative Care Centre…
The South East Palliative Care Centre was officially opened in Waterford in July by the Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly T.D.
The Centre was developed for HSE/South East Community Healthcare, as part of the €31 million five storey Dunmore Wing integrated project, on the grounds of University Hospital Waterford.
Major fundraising took place across Waterford and the South-East to make the Hospice’s new facility a reality – with the Waterford Hospice Movement contributing €6 million to the project.
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Iceland sit-in…
The Iceland chain came into difficulty in mid-summer of this year when the chain was asked to remove all meat-based products by the Food Safety Authority.
Stores across the country were told to close as hundreds of jobs would be lost.
The Waterford store avoided closure for a number of weeks until they were given just 30 minutes notice to vacate the store and close up shop.
The workers staged a sit in over a five day period until they were given their promised wages and benefits owed, as was covered extensively by WLR’S Kyle Butler and Damien Tiernan….
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Big awards wins for WLR!
2023 was another record-breaking year for WLR FM, having collected four awards at the IMRO National Radio Awards, as well as achieving record listenership figures and an Irish Audio Award.
WLR won one gold, two silver and one bronze accolade at the IMRO National Radio Awards in October, on a fantastic night for the station.
Deise Today, presented by Damien Tiernan and produced by WLR Current Affairs Editor Jennifer Long, was named Local / Regional Current Affairs Programme of the Year.
WLR News won Silver in the Local / Regional News Programme of the Year category, for their Waterford @ 1 special.
Dymphna Nugent won big on the night - also winning Silver in the News Programme / News Event of the Year category for her documentary Drug Debt and Intimidation, which delved into the issues of drug addiction and violence in County Waterford.
21-year-old Mollai Gough, who joined WLR last year, also tasted IMRO success for the first time - as her Abair Amach E - Alzheimer's Special claimed a bronze award in the Craoltoireacht Le Gaeilge category.
Meanwhile, this year, WLR also came away with one of the top awards from the first ever Irish Audio Awards!
The ceremony took place in Smock Alley Theatre in Dublin.
The Déise Today Climate Change Special (which also won an IMRO Radio Award in 2022) was crowned the winner of the Broadcaster Category.
WLR was the only station, local or national, to win one of the audio awards, which are being run by Radiocentre Ireland and the ICAD.
Jordan Norris took a look back at a tremendous year’s success for WLR….
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Jack Bolger’s Hollywood win!
There were big celebrations for a Waterford family in November when an Irish TV show won a major award in Hollywood, no less…
Seven-year-old Jack Bolger from Butlerstown is the star of RTE Junior Show ‘Dizzy Deliveries’ which won a Clio Award in the flagship Entertainment category at the ceremony in the Dolby Theatre in early November.
The children’s series is the first Irish production to include the Lamh sign language system – and it won a silver Clio at the prestigious event for its efforts.
Well, a week after that win, on November 17 last, young Jack Bolger, and his proud mum Niamh, dropped into the Deise Today studio for a chat with Damien…
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North quays progress
It was late 2022 when the good news emerged that a whopping 170m in funding had been approved by Government for the development of the infrastructure side of the north quays.
This year has seen much more ‘good news’ on the north quays front, with the physical work starting on the new sustainable transport bridge that will link the city with Ferrybank.
Work is progressing well on the entire project with the construction of the new integrated transport hub on track for completion in 2025.
Meanwhile, Dublin-based Harcourt Developments are finalising their planning scheme for the private SDZ development of the site.
Back in March, after a ground-breaking ceremony for the project took place on the South Plaza, Damien had an interesting chat with award-winning architect and TV presenter Hugh Wallace.
He’s the architect who is designing the new development and he explained to Damien about what people can expect…
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Memories of Sinnotts!
How we listen to music has changed radically over the decades but during the summer, the death of one man in Waterford brought back memories to thousands.
Sinnott’s shop in the city was loved by many and the death of Noel was the spark for lovely conversations amongst listeners.
Damien Tiernan had the story for WLR….
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Good news for Waterford Airport!
Waterford Airport was prominent on the news agenda throughout 2023 as more question marks surrounded whether or not the runway extension would go ahead.
On April 12th, it was reiterated that negotiations were at a delicate stage.
Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan joined Damien on Deise Today in September - his words did not inspire much confidence in hopes of lift-off for Waterford.
A number of councillors sought clarification on Waterford Airport in October and November as doubts continued to grow.
Late in November, a positive development broke and William Bolster welcomed the announcement of private investment.
€12 million in private sector investment by Comer Group International in partnership with the Bolster Group has been confirmed, to develop the runway extension at Waterford Airport.
The significant development now clears the way for the business plan seeking matching funding to be submitted to the Department of Transport.
The government are still yet to confirm their financial commitment but are expected to do so in 2024.
WLR's News, Current Affairs and Sports Review of the Year, featuring these and many more of the year's great stories and quirky features, airs on WLR from Wednesday to Friday December 27th to 29th between 10 at 12pm.
