WLR's News Review of the Year 2019

Waterford's Top News Stories of 2019

As 2019 draws to a close, we look back at the past year and see what stories dominated the headlines in Waterford.

A full news review will air on WLR on Sunday December 29th at 12pm.

Thousands of nurses and midwives staged a series of strikes and protests in January and February in a row over pay and conditions.

They held pickets outside University Hospital Waterford, the HSE offices on the Cork Road and St Patrick's Hospital.

Talks took place at the Labour Court and the strike was suspended on February 11th.

Matt Shanahan was co-opted on to Waterford Council in January, the cardiac campaigner was selected to replace independent councillor Mary Roche who stepped down from the local authority.

Matt Shanahan defeated independent abortion rights campaigner Claire Cullen Delsol by 25 votes to 5.

The Health Equality for the South East spokesperson received support from Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, Labour and independents, while his opponent was backed by Sinn Féin members.

The seat had been vacated by Mary Roche, who resigned in November 2018 citing personal circumstances

Videos emerged in February of a day-long block party in a Waterford housing estate.

It showed students drinking outdoors from early in the morning in Templars Hall.

Residents expressed concerns over ongoing noise pollution, littering and antisocial behaviour.

On the day of the party, resident Michelle Doyle said they could not get into the estate with the number of cars parked there. The ice cream man pulled up as well.

She said the students were hanging out of windows, the music was pumping, drink bottles being thrown on the road and just general intimidation when you are driving through.

In March, a jury convicted a man of the 2017 murder of a 90-year-old retired farmer in County Waterford.

Ross Outram, of Ferryland, Waterford Road, Clonmel had pleaded not guilty to murdering Paddy Lyons in Ballysaggart, Co Waterford, at a time unknown between February 23 and 26, 2017.

The panel of eight men and four women rejected Outram’s claim that he repeatedly struck Paddy Lyons in “self-defence”, after three-and-a-half hours of deliberation.

The pensioner suffered from osteoporosis and only had the use of one arm.

The prosecution described what happened to Mr Lyons as "a vicious and sustained attack on a defenceless old man".

A community meeting to discuss the arrival of a Syrian Family in Lismore as part of a pilot community sponsorship programme was disrupted by several people from Dublin in March

Lismore was selected by the Department of Justice as one of a number of towns to run a pilot community sponsorship programme to welcome and help to integrate refugees into Ireland.

The meeting, which was held in the town’s Heritage Centre, was marked by disruption by various groups who voiced their concern over the initiative.

Brian Buckley, a resident in Lismore who is in favour of the project says it was a shame that a discussion could not take place due to the disruption.

"I think it was shameful the way it went down. I think there were people who came down, who aren’t from the locality, who came to hijack the meeting and got their own views ahead of the local community.

"The majority of people came down to see what this project was about and we’re leaving none the wiser because of a handful of people trying to disrupt the whole thing."

Two of Waterford's most prominent international figures were honoured with the Freedom of Waterford City and County.

Dan Mulhall, the Ambassador of Ireland to the United States and Professor Louise Richardson, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford signed the Freedom Book at a special ceremony in City Hall in March.

Mayor of Waterford Councillor Declan Doocey described them as "two individuals who have made a significant contribution to enhancing Ireland’s status internationally".

University Hospital Waterford dominated the headlines in April.

It's after a leaked letter from four consultant pathologists describing primitive conditions at the mortuary was published.

It claimed bodies were being left on trolleys in the mortuary because it was full.

They said the conditions were so bad that some families had to be told to have closed caskets at the funerals of their loved ones.

A group was appointed in May to review the running of Waterford Hospital mortuary.

It also emerged that the State Pathologist’s office was no longer making referrals to the mortuary for post mortem examinations.

A teenage boy suffered first-degree burns to his face in April.

Tega Agberhiere was one of three teenagers injured by a corrosive substance in the attack in the Earls Court estate.

17-year-old Tega was transferred to Cork University Hospital for treatment.

Four teenagers aged 16, 17, 18 and 19 were arrested and questioned by Gardai in Waterford and were subsequently released without charge.

It emerged in December that two of the alleged perpetrators will not be charged to be charged.

66 candidates contested the local elections in Waterford on May 24th

They were vying for 32 seats across 6 electoral areas.

Independent councillor Cha O'Neill lost his seat after 20 years on the local authority.

In all 31 councillors put themselves forward for re-election however six went on to lose their seats.

The others were Siobhan Whelan, Sharon Carey, Ray Murphy, Sean Reinhard and Blaise Hannigan.

Waterford Council is now made up of 7 Fine Gael, 7 Fianna Fail, 6 Sinn Fein, 6 Independents, Four Labour and Two Green Party members.

Thousands of people took to the streets of Waterford City again in May to voice their concerns about the lack of 24/7 interventional cardiac care in the South East.

The event was organised by the Trades' Council together with local health campaign groups.

Waterford's Grace O'Sullivan had a long wait to find out if she secured a seat in the European Parliament.

The Green Party Senator became Waterford's first MEP after being elected for the Ireland South constituency on June the 5th, taking the fourth seat

Fine Gael's Deirdre Clune was re-elected claiming the fifth seat, the so-called 'storage seat'.

Grace O'Sullivan said: "It is such a privilege, and it has been a difficult wait for everyone, but I have the fourth seat, the working seat and I am going to Europe.

“I give my commitment that I will not waste one moment."

A Fine Gael TD was told to consider his position after a constituency row in Waterford.

A motion of no confidence was passed in John Deasy by his local branch in June.

Deasy alleged there was bullying going on in the organisation and requested a full review from party headquarters.

Former Seanad leader Maurice Cummins stepped down as President of the Waterford branch during the local elections.

Meanwhile, Waterford TD John Deasy announced in August that he is to quit politics at the next election.

The Fine Gael TD told the Irish Independent he wants to leave before he’s ‘too old to do something’.

The 51-year-old is the Government’s special envoy to the US.

A Fine Gael investigation into allegations of bullying found in September that former Waterford Senator Maurice Cummins' behaviour was not intimidatory or bullying under any circumstances.

Farmers - members of the Beef Plan Movement - staged pickets in August and September due to what they said were the unsustainably low prices being paid to them by Irish factories.

The protests were lifted to allow talks to take place however demonstrations resumed again within weeks.

The second wave of protests was organised by independent farmers and was not led by the Beef Plan movement.

They continued their blockade of meat factories in Waterford despite court threats. 24-hour pickets were placed at Dawn Meats in Grannagh, ABP in Ferrybank and Dawn Meats Carroll's Cross.

300 workers at Dawn Meats in Grannagh were temporarily laid off with Meat Industry Ireland claiming 3,000 employees of its members were affected across the country.

Pickets were finally removed towards the end of the September after farmers accepted proposals agreed during talks with all stakeholders

The second year of All Together Now in Co Waterford was blighted by traffic chaos.

Approaches to the Curraghmore Estate were gridlocked on the festivals’ first day, with many attendees complaining that they were stuck in their cars for a number of hours in the final few kilometres leading to the event site.

Organisers acknowledged the traffic management issues in a post to social media after the conclusion of the three-day festival.

There were fears in September that changes to An Garda Siochana could see Waterford being the only city without its own Garda Division.

It was proposed to join the existing Waterford Division with Carlow/Kilkenny.

Deputy David Cullinane said it will reduce the number of Superintendents and Chief Superintendents:

“Waterford City and County, at the moment, is one division.

“It’s being proposed that we create a new division which would include Kilkenny, Carlow and Waterford and potentially with the headquarters of that division in Kilkenny or elsewhere and not in Waterford.

“It would be an absolute disaster again for the status of the city."

However, it was announced at the end of the month that the headquarters of the new Waterford/Carlow/Kilkenny Garda Division will be located in Waterford.

Close to 1,000 students in Waterford took the afternoon off school to call for urgent action on climate change.

Traffic was brought to a standstill as children walked out of their classrooms and marched to City Hall, as part of a global demonstration.

They joined millions of people around the world in demanding more of an effort by governments.

The Minister for Health confirmed in October that 4.2 million euro will be made available in the 2020 HSE Revenue Budget to fully staff the Waterford Palliative Care Unit.

The new unit, consisting of the ground and first floor of the new five-storey Dunmore Wing at University Hospital Waterford was officially handed over to the HSE in April.

However because a budget had not been provided to the HSE for staffing, recruitment could not start.

WLR was named Ireland's local station of the year at the 2019 IMRO Radio Awards.

The winners were announced at a gala ceremony at the Lyrath Estate Hotel

WLR picked up gold beating competition from local stations in the 32 counties.

University Hospital Waterford hit the headlines again in November.

This time it was after photos emerged of patients sleeping on chairs and floors in the Department of Psychiatry due to overcrowding.

**Psychiatric Nurses Association say issues at UHW ongoing for over two years**

Chair of the Waterford Branch of the Psychiatric Nurses Association, Leish Caulfield says the situation was very concerning:

"We have to provide a service that is of a standard and at the minute that standard is not being met.

"This is an ongoing issue for over two years.

"This issue of overcapacity and the overreliance on our acute inpatient services has been highlighted for many, many months to senior management, to the HSE and to our governing body.

"This is not something that happened today or yesterday, this has been building."

A protest was held on the 8th of November.

A proposal to increase commercial rates was rejected by Waterford councillors in November.

Chief executive Michael Walsh was hoping to plug a 1.3 million euro hole in the council's budget, caused by a revaluation of assets.

He sought an increase of five per cent on commercial rates.

It needed majority support from Waterford's 32 councillors.

Instead, Labour and Sinn Féin, who are part of the controlling group on the council, proposed deferring a decision until Thursday 12th December.

They proposed meeting Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Eoghan Murphy again and acquiring more funding from his department.

Waterford Councillors finally passed a budget in December after a nine-hour meeting.

A commercial rates increase of 2.5 per cent was agreed to help plug the 1.3 million euro deficit.

However, three-quarters of businesses will not receive any increase due to a tax rebate.

Five Sinn Féin councillors opposed the budget, meaning the controlling group on the local authority is no more.

Waterford's Paudie Coffey announced his retirement from politics in December confirming that he will not be contesting the next General Election.

The Fine Gael Senator notified Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and the Party's General Secretary Tom Curran

The 49-year-old said he wanted to spend more time with his family

It was  previously revealed in October that Fine Gael intended to run three candidates for the Waterford constituency in the next General Election

The Fine Gael national executive announced that councillors Damien Geoghegan and John Cummins would contest the election alongside Senator Paudie Coffey.

Planning permission was finally submitted to Waterford Council for the North Quays development in December.

Falcon Real Estate said the estimated investment is 500 million euro phased over five years with work on the project likely to start by the 4th quarter of 2020.

It includes a seven-storey twin block of office space; five residential buildings ranging in height from 7 to 17 storeys, with 300 riverside apartments; a fifteen storey 220-room hotel and conference centre as well as open public space.