AS we all know, THERE ARE WONDREFUL PEOPLE WORKING OUT at Waterford airport.

I know some people across the county who were very annoyed when some of the emails between politicians were revealed by Hugh Dooley this week on the News and Star.

Those emails referenced the debate last October about then Junior Minister James Lawless pig in a poke comment.

In particular, one email got them very irate – the one from FF TD Mary Butler to Minister Lawless:

Which started : “Dear James…” and went onto refer to her responding to constituent’s concerns with the comment: “I have sent them a detailed response in an effort to win back the votes…”.

Deise Today had some texts from listeners after we reported the story.

Those texting indicated they had sent emails to Minister Lawless also at the time regarding the pig in a poke comment and got what they presume was the template response…as one said, ‘about how important the airport is blah blah blah’.

One texted the show: “So now it shows it was all only to save votes, not about the benefits to the region of the project.”

Another texted the show to say staff feel totally hoodwinked…’this is not about party politics or anything like that and we’re not ignorant there was an election coming up but Mary Butler needs to called out on this’.

Texters were calling on the government parties – especially John Cummins and Mary Butler as local reps – to tell the public what in the name of the God of Aviation is happening????

As many readers know, the airport is fully operational apart from the fact that there aren’t commercial or scheduled airline flights – why?

Because the runway isn’t long or wide enough.

There are lots of business and smaller flights and planes in and out of the airport every day, training flights, the Search and Rescue helicopter, etc.

I won’t go into the full history of it at the mo…in this article, I’m going to focus on the money going from taxpayers or ratepayers to Waterford airport from Waterford Council.

As many of you know, the council has a vested interest in the airport, in developing the airport, in seeing it take off.

The CEO of the Council, currently Sean McKeown and previously Michael Walsh, sit on the board of the airport, as do the CEOs of Wexford and Kilkenny councils.

Waterford council also has two designated councillors on the board – they are currently Jim Darcy and Declan Barry.

There’s a very revealing 4 page document which Michael Walsh wrote to all the councillors three years ago referencing the budget for the airport for 2023 and forecasts up to 2028 – but those figures are based on passenger numbers of 165,000 this year growing to 341,000 but 2028 – but we’re not going to have any so-called passengers this year and probably next year either.

The current runway is 1,400m long and 30 metres wide – it needs to be 2000m long and 45m wide to allow planes carrying up to 150 passangers each to take off and land there.

We know about the investors, the Comer Brothers and the Bolster Group, in this case under the name Davin Regional Investments, saying they are willing to put €12m into it, with request for a €12m matching funding from the government, and €3m from local authorities.

So lets focus on the local authorities for a moment.

Of the €3m – €2.2m is supposed to come from Waterford, 400k from Wexford and 400k from Kilkenny.

Michael Walsh, who retired from the council last year, had written: “The airport cannot sustain losses on an ongoing basis and the reality is there is no operational support available at national level without scheduled services and the only real option is for this Council to step in and provide support….etc”.

The statement then was that the airport is operating at an annual loss of €300k a year!!

Here’s a specific paragraph from the document:

“The investors own business forecasts below prepared by Grant Thornton demonstrate that there is a) no future in the existing operation as a commercial proposition with a loss close to €300,000 per annum being generated and b) that over 300,000 passengers a year need to be generated before any profit is made. This is also dependant on a yield being achieved in terms of passenger fees and airlines are currently dictating terms with respect to passenger charges. The broader context is also that Waterford at peak with a London-Luton flight being the primary generator only achieved less than 150,000 passengers…”

Waterford could be compared to Cornwall Airport in Newquay which has an immediate population of over 500,000 in Cornwall.  It’s stated this would have run slightly at loss a or break-even pre-pandemic with a very significant PSO subsidy for flights to London and with over 400,000 passengers.

“The simple reality is to achieve return on investment for the investors the company will have to be exceptionally managed and ancillary activities which require further capital will have to be driven to maximise income and generate a yield on return,” states the report by Michael Walsh.

So here’s the crux – the money the council is giving to the airport is earmarked to be going into the capital fund to help build the runway – if and when that happens.

But until that happens – some of the money is now going to keep the airport open now, in other words, day to day matters.

The auditors report for 2023 into council matters stated, and I quote:

“A payment of €300k was made to the airport from capital reserves with a further €370k recently advanced in 2024, to allow continued operations.  The payments, says the auditor, are described as advance funding, on the Council’s capital commitment to redevelopment, but were not matched by similar payments from other local authorities.”  End quote.

I heard this week that another €150k was being looked for from the council for the airport.

Was this true?  Was it requested as a loan? Is it for capital or day to day operations?

So I made inquiries – and we sent an email to Waterford council.

And this is the response:

STATEMENT FROM THE COUNCIL:

Waterford City and County Council (WCCC) has not received any request for loan funding from the Board of Waterford Regional Airport.

 WCCC has been making provision of funding in its annual revenue budget approved by Council since 2016 towards the airport.

 The latest provision of €150,000 was approved by the elected members in the budget approved for 2025 at the Annual Budget Meeting held on 26^th November last.

 The funding provisions made by WCCC since 2016 have been used to support the development of the airport, including the acquisition of lands necessary to lengthen and widen the runway.

 WCCC has also made 2 payments in 2023 and 2024 totalling €670,000 towards the operation of the airport.

 The airport is considered by WCCC to be a strategic infrastructure project for the region and the Council strongly supports the business case for the extension of the runway. Indeed, the Council at its Plenary Meeting held in February 2025 unanimously approved a notice of motion to urgently request the Government, through the Transport Minister Darragh O’Brien TD and his officials, to promptly decide the business case submitted by the Board of Waterford Regional Airport.

So that’s the council statement.

Here’s a summary of where we are at in my opinion:

Waterford council have been pumping – is that a wrong word to use – into the airport for the past 9 years.

The statement says they HAVE ALSO made two payments over last two years totalling €670k towards the operation of the airport – in other words, to keep the doors open.

That’s €335k a year….So did that money come from the capital allocations?

Is the €2.2m fund the council is due to give to the airport now reduced by €670k?

How much more money will the council have to give?  Where does this stop?

Will the Council be shortly requested by the Airport Board for more money?  Will this go through what is known as the Special Business Committee, for them to vote on it and then recommend or not recommend it to the main body of councillors?

We don’t have a government decision on the airport runway extension…so another 150k this year, and will the council be asked to give another €150k or €200k over the next few months and even more next year?  Just for operational reasons?  And when is the government going to announce their next move?  If nothing happens, is there a possibility Waterford Council could be left putting between €400k and €500k into the airport EVERY YEAR just to keep the doors open?

So many questions – and at present, very few answers…

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