The amalgamation of Waterford City & County Councils
took place in tandem with the Local Elections of 2015 and has now been in place
for 12 months. The News & Star have asked me to write a piece on how I see
things after the first year but rather than focus on the personal I decided to
go back to the documentation, to the promises that were made when the merger
was being proposed by the Amalgamation Committee under the Chairmanship of Sean
Aylward and do an analysis of that.
So how has it been going? Has the status of Waterford city
been protected as we were told it would and what, if any, actual benefits have
derived to the City as a consequence?
The Implementation Plan to the Minister for the Environment,
Community & Local Government was delivered in May 2013. It detailed some
‘high level interventions’ that needed to happen in order to both smooth the
transition to the new joint local authority and to ensure that it worked. What
were these things?
One of the crucial ones was “the view that...additional
support is warranted to address legacy financial deficits”. In other words, the
deficit as we now know of over €10m should be dealt with via ‘additional support’
from central government. Other High Level Interventions are laid out in the
Report and they can be summarised as follows:
1
Developing the critical mass of Waterford as a
Gateway City including
-
The city centre as the engine for growth and
brand reputation
-
Collaboration with partners in the South-East
2
Developing human capital including the
establishment of Technological University
3
City Centre Strategy & Management Plan and
prioritisation of significant retail development
4
Connectivity including
-
Runway extension for Waterford Airport and
-
Measures to bring the Aurora dark fibre network
to Waterford & SE Region
5
Continued development of Viking Triangle and
other county towns and opening of Mount Congreve.
6
OPW site at Dungarvan and NAMA Michael Street
potential to be maximised.
7
New marketing strategy for Waterford
8
New Director (and Directorate) for Economic
Development
9
Basing of IDA Regional Director for SE in
Waterford
10
Addressing of disparity of State Aid in
BMW/S&E regions
11
Audit of labour supply skills
Firstly the legacy debt was not dealt with through any
‘additional’ measures at all and the new Council has had to borrow to cover the
historic deficits of both councils and spread the repayment out over the coming
years.
The Technological University is caught in an increasingly
uncertain vortex and indeed the entire process now hinges on whether a TU would
deliver anything at all to Waterford and the South East other than a name
change – bearing in mind that the government have clearly indicated that there
are to be no additional costs associated with the designation - and that there
now appears to be one for everyone in the audience (to coin a phrase). This is
farcical and leads one to conclude that what’s on offer is but a yellow-pack
designation which would offer no advantage to Waterford and indeed may even
damage the current status of WIT but that’s a larger question to be dealt with
another day.
The Airport Runway extension obviously hasn’t happened, nor
is there any sign of it. Mount Congreve has been opened although it is hard to
understand how that might be credited to, or is a consequence of the
amalgamation process. Indeed some might say that it’s open despite the
government rather than because of them! Additionally it is sad to see the
nursery there recently closed.
The Viking Triangle, has continued to develop physically
(slowly) although I would like to see an acceleration of the populating of the
area with more unique businesses and activity. This project in my opinion needs
refocusing.
While efforts continue apace (prior to and since
amalgamation) to develop the NAMA site in Michael Street we can at best say
that we are confident that something will happen. Although there is nothing
concrete at the time of writing, NAMA have committed to designing the centre
and applying for planning permission. As it stands all the plans for urban
regeneration will amount to nothing, and indeed I would worry if a single paving
slab will be laid, if that site is not developed. This must remain as a number
one priority for the city.
A new strategy for Waterford is certainly being launched in
the area of tourism although it is to be regretted that Tourism Ireland has
seen fit to have Waterford now managed from the Cork office. This will, unless
carefully monitored have a negative effect on the future development of tourism
in the City (and County), in the same way as the removal of the IDA Director in
1995 (by the same government) had a negative effect on attracting industry. To
be fair the launch of Irelands Ancient East could deliver for us following on
from the huge success of the Wild Atlantic Way (from which Waterford was
inexplicably excluded) but that is dependent on Tourism Irelands commitment and
again is entirely outside the remit of the local authority and cannot be said
to be consequence of amalgamation.
We also now have an Economic Director and Directorate and
that along with the basing of an IDA Regional Director for the South East in
Waterford City and the levelling of the field in relation to State grants has
indeed delivered benefits in the past year. Of those, possibly only the first
is attributable to the amalgamation (although all other cities got them too
whether amalgamated or not). I also am concerned that since the Economic
Director was appointed, his role continues to be diluted with other important
responsibilities.
Our City identity, as I predicted has been all but lost and
we are now the Metropolitan District of Waterford rather than Waterford City.
The Mayoralty has been decimated on many fronts. In City Hall the MAYOR(S) have
even been relegated to small offices lacking privacy or status rather than
occupying the Mayors Parlour as heretofore. The City Mayoralty is second now to
the Mayoralty of the Plenary Council and quite frankly the situation that
pertains is ludicrous to the extent that under the current structure there is
arguably, no place for a City Mayor. It pains me to even type that.
There have been savings at senior management level – with just
one CEO and 4 Directors (back to the exact same levels of staffing as the City
alone had prior to the amalgamation) but it’s hard not to counter that with
lack of focus, split locations and the built in inefficiencies inherent in a
split structure.
I am also willing to concede that things appear to be
looking up on the jobs front with announcements from West Pharma, Glanbia,
Nearform, Eishtech etc. to name a few. However, how many of these announcements
are (I wonder) a result of the amalgamation?
We have been though (and continue to go through) a period
upheaval in the Council with huge associated costs running into several
millions – with, of course, no allocated budget for them. We have lost our City
and our City Mayoralty – important perhaps only to those of us who value
history & culture – but in my opinion we have also lost status and rank now
in the second layer of Local Government in Ireland behind the three cities of
Dublin, Cork & Galway.
I read a research paper during the year which, while not
examining the Irish situation specifically, has carried out an analysis of
Local Government systems in other countries. It concluded that there was no
evidence to suggest that bigger was, in fact better when it comes to local
authorities and that with the exception of the UK, Ireland now ranks among the
countries with the lowest level of representation in local government. Which is
no surprise as Ireland is among the most centralised systems of government in
the developed world.
But don’t just take my word for it. Brendan Howlin, told the
Labour Party conference in March of this year that he lamented that the change
in local government and that it was the ‘biggest regret’ of his term in office
and it should be reversed. He must have had his ‘eye off the ball’, he said. Go
figure.
I would (and did) argue that real reforms and savings could
and should have been made through shared services and other reforms which could
have been delivered without the huge costs associated with amalgamation and
without decimating city & town councils and their identities and status.
Can I honestly say it has all been worth it – for the miniscule savings which
may or may not accrue in time? No. I cannot. Waterford continues to suffer
apartheid in the educational, health and job creation stakes. Changing our size
has not – unsurprisingly – changed that one iota. Sadly, despite Mr Howlins’
howls (sorry) and other platitudes I do not see this abomination being undone
in the short or medium term.
