The Secretary General at the Department of Transport has told Waterford Oireachtas members that funding for the re-location of the train station, as part of the North Quays development, will not come from their department.
Officials revealed that the cost of the project said to be €30m would be closer to €50m.
Under the plans, a new train station will be built to replace the existing Plunkett Station with a new bus set down area and short-term parking facilities.
However, Sinn Féin TD David Cullinane told Damien Tiernan on Deise Today that there is confusion as to who will fund it:
"The Department of Transport made it very clear to us yesterday that they are not in the position to fund the moving of the train station because they don't see it as a transport issue.
"They see it as, what they call, a placemaking or a public realm issue; that there is no transport advantage to moving the train station in terms of footfall, or increased capacity in term of numbers."
Deputy Cullinane says the Government departments need to sit down together to discuss the project and focus on the urgency of it:
"There is a developer here prepared to put 400 million euro on the table. Waterford needs a big development, we need to see this going ahead. We're there to unlock barriers or challenges, and I think we made some progress because I think we will see that meeting take place and we're going to meet the other department next week."
