There are fears over the planned extension of Waterford Airport's runway as it emerged that the Transport Minister has yet to review the business case for providing funding.
The issue was raised in the Dáil today (Wednesday) by Waterford Independent TD Matt Shanahan.
Responding to calls from Deputy Shanahan for an update on the status of the business case, Transport Minister Eamon Ryan said he “hadn’t seen a business case”, and had “no timeline” for development.
"This is despite the fact that a business case was received by his Department - sent by Waterford Airport management and stakeholders - on December 13th of last year," Deputy Shanahan told WLR News.
“This is clear evidence that Minister Ryan does not want Waterford Airport to proceed,” Deputy Shanahan claimed. “Those in Waterford who have received positive affirmations about Waterford Airport by the Government, and the Taoiseach no less, will be shocked by Minister Ryan’s comments today. I’m not, and this is why I took the opportunity to question him on it today.”
Deputy Shanahan said Minister Ryan appeared to "pour cold water" on the prospects of government funding for Waterford Airport by saying that Ireland has a “dense network of airports, compared to other countries” and any business case for another airport “would be difficult, in terms of where the market is and how it would work”.
“We have seen increased demand for Irish airports and we have a very dense network of airports across the country compared to other countries,” Minister Ryan said. “We’ve seen significant increases in Cork, Dublin, Shannon, all the airports and that makes a business case difficult in terms of where the market is and how it would work."
Speaking this evening, Deputy Shanahan said he subsequently established that the Minister's department has received the business case but it has not yet been reviewed.
"There has been no attempt to review it by him despite the understanding of the critical construction timelines involved and the request for immediate review," he said.
In December, a "game-changing" investment plan of €30 million was announced for Waterford Airport. The funding announcement was made at City Hall in Waterford by Minister for Finance, Michael McGrath TD, and William Bolster, Executive at Waterford Airport.
The announcement included €12 million in private sector investment by the Comer Group International, in partnership with Bolster Group, to develop a major runway expansion plan.
The aim of developing the runway was described as being to help enable the airport and the south-east region to access international flights to-and-from Ireland.
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