Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent)
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48. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his position on the business plan now reported on by his Department on the funding application to develop the Waterford Airport runway extension; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41978/24]

Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent)
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My question relates to the Waterford business plan to extend the airport at Waterford. Will the Minister make a statement on the matter having received an update from his Department?

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for his question and for the opportunity to update the House on this matter.

As he will be aware, my Department has undertaken a detailed appraisal of the development proposal put forward by Waterford Airport. That appraisal has included the assessment of significant documentation and responses to queries raised by Department officials and addressed by the airport, some as recently as this summer. The substantive application was received last December but items remained outstanding until just before the summer break. The level of appraisal is necessary to ensure that due diligence is exercised in accordance with my Department’s transport appraisal framework and the Government’s infrastructure guidelines, previously known as the public spending code.

The transport appraisal framework requires that in the transport sector where a project has an estimated potential cost of €15 million or more, the sponsoring agency must produce a project outline document to be reviewed by the relevant approving authority, in this case the Department of Transport. The purpose of the project outline document is to outline the rationale for an intervention and the intended impacts, verify the alignment of the proposal with wider government strategy and policy and describe the appraisal, governance, and financial approach.

My Department has completed its assessment of the detail submitted by Waterford Airport in line with the project outline document requirements. This assessment was recently submitted to both myself and the Minister for our consideration.

The project costings have increased substantially above the original estimated cost of €12 million to €27 million, deviating significantly from the airport’s proposal in 2019. Furthermore, the Deputy will appreciate that a project completing construction is not an end in itself. Successful operational activity would also be considered to be a key metric. Value-for-money criteria for any investment proposal extends well beyond the construction phase and into the operational phase, including projected activity in the succeeding years. Building a runway in itself is not an end goal; flying planes from it successfully for a number of years is.

I would be happy to update the House further when both the Minister and I have performed that assessment and given it our full consideration. I do reserve an open mind on the matter. I am aware of the desire of the Deputy and others, including the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, in the area and in the constituency to advance this project but it is State money. There is no impediment whatever to a private sector project running start to finish but if the State is asked to make a contribution, the State must have assurances that it is going to work.

Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent)
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I acknowledge the hospital pass that the Minister of State has been given with this project. I wrote to his Department asking when in the past ten years a project that was 100% going to be funded by the private sector before the Department put in a cent of funding was last done. Nothing like it has been done in the previous ten years. The proposal is that private money will deliver the full investment for the airport before the Department would be asked to provide a shilling. It will deliver the runway, the apron, the terminal buildings, the upgrades to the roads, all the regulatory items and operating licence, that is everything. It is amusing when the Minister of State talks about the Department’s assessment. The Department has spent €350 million on metro north, which has been waste of money. It is a Department that was cribbing about the search and rescue contract costing €60 million a year and then wrote a contract for €100 million a year and at the same time reduced the operational efficiency of the helicopters involved. This is an equality issue for the south east. It is also a pro rata strategic investment. Do the Department officials not realise we live on an island? If the Minister of State walks down the corridor, he will see a copy of the Proclamation, which asserts equal rights for every citizen in this country. We are not getting that in what the Minister of State is describing.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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It is a little unrealistic to categorise this as some sort of once in a lifetime opportunity for the State and that the funding is not required until the end. Effectively the State has been asked to take a loan from private interests to be paid back pro rata when it is completed. Whether the money comes at the start, middle or end, the fact is the State is being asked to contribute significant funding to buy a pig in poke based on a business case that, to be frank, could be a lot stronger. If it can be strengthened, I am open to revisions of it and examining it further. I said there was no impediment whatsoever to the project proceeding as a private enterprise, should it wish. The State is being asked, however, to contribute. The structure being proposed is that the State would contribute immediately once construction ends, before a single plane has taken off. The business case is also predicated on that basis that its first year of operation would exceed its best ever figures of operation in the past. In year one in the new environment, it would beat the best ever year in the previous environment. In reality, figures declined from 2008 to 2016 when the airport ceased scheduled activities. One could point to the M9 motorway and ask if that is a factor in that decline. The region is well served in other ways. I am open to the idea but the proposal must be strengthened.

Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent)
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I just cannot share the Minister of State’s opinion that the private sector, which is putting probably €24 million into this project, does not know what it is doing but the Department does. I remind him that in 2007, a Fianna Fáil Government gave a commitment to do the runway extension at Waterford at a cost of €25 million. Just like 24-7 cath labs, our university and the N24 and N25, all these political promises have turned to ash.

I will direct my next comment to the Minister of State’s colleague beside him, the senior Minister. I contend the only thing blocking this project is the Minister’s evangelical ideas around aircraft emissions. He has Cabinet colleagues and they share collective Cabinet responsibility. Will he bring a memo to Cabinet on the funding of Waterford airport and let his Cabinet colleagues look at this and make a group decision on this and not keep this project entirely unto himself because he personally does not want to do it and he would prefer to walk out of this Parliament as the man who never increased aviation emissions in this country despite all the new power sources that will reduce those in coming years?

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy’s commented on metro spend. He will not have forgotten the global financial crisis. A lot of money was spent on various projects leading up to 2011. The State was in a different position then. I was someone who was cheering on that big dig at the time. I would have loved to seen a metro and an interconnector build around in the city and a circle line and all the things that were supposed to happen -----

Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent)
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Sorry, we are talking about Waterford Airport here, not the blooming metro.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy raised the metro. The Deputy decided to raise the metro.

Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent)
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I raised the dysfunctional spending in the Department, which is now saying it will have oversight of this project when this project is being entirely funded by the private sector.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy can talk down his time if he wishes. I will talk in the time available to me.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Through the Chair.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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I am addressing my remarks to you, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle. I will continue.

There is also nothing stopping the airport from serving propeller planes tomorrow. There is no impediment whatsoever. What the airport is seeking is state support to start a new business model that would involve a longer runway with larger planes with no commitment I have seen that any airline is ready to take up. I have not seen any projected demand that stacks up. I do not want to go into too much detail about what is in the business plan because it is not appropriate to do so but I would like to see a stronger projection of demand in the area. I endeavoured over the summer months with great effort and energy to support the regional airports and to drive demand into Shannon, Cork, Knock and Farranfore and other regional airports with limited success

Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent)
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I asked if that memo will be brought to Cabinet and the Minister of State is saying "No" it will not.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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A Leas-Cheann Comhairle, I cannot take a heckler.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I have given the Minister of State extra time. We have to listen to each other. We are moving on to the next question, go dtí an tríú ceist ar sonraíodh uain di in ainm an Teachta Ruairí Ó Murchú.