How hostile will the new government be for Waterford?

Squidvicious

Deiseen wrote: »

The perception definitely isn't there. Maybe its a local rivalry thing with not wanting to admit that you depend on somewhere else or maybe Waterford just isn't strong enough, maybe it's both.

Despite what they might perceive, they definitely do depend on Waterford for Education, Health and Jobs. The traffic alone on the bridge every morning is proof of this.

The region needs a stronger Waterford, nowhere else in the region offers a viable location for a regional hospital, university, airport or significant industrial estate.

I think that it is a real shame that the South East doesn't fight its battles collectively. It's obvious that no single constituency in the South East has enough seats for the government to really care. They might pay a bit more attention if they had to take into account voters in all of the South Eastern counties together. However, if you want the rest of the South East to back up Waterford when it wants something, then you might want to look at sharing some of that government investment too. For example, how much harder might Wexford fight for a university in Waterford if there were clear plans for part of it to be located in Wexford? I know that's not ideal from a Waterford point of view but let's face it, Waterford with 4 TD's hasn't ever been high on the government's list of priorities so maybe a new approach is needed?

azimuth17

The south east region exists as a government entity. Waterford is the designated regional centre regardless of how people in Wexford or elsewhere think about that. Certain things follow from that like location of main hospital services. On a wider scale, and without reference to Waterford city, Dr Ray Griffin of WIT makes the point that the south east region with approx 10% of the National Population is scheduled to receive only 1% of the investment under the Ireland 2040 Plan. I don't believe that Donegal and Sligo necessarily see Galway as their regional centre either, but the population of both those counties are often linked with Galway for public services like acute medical provision for example.

alta stare

Deiseen wrote: »

There might be worse off counties, but they are not counties with cities that are designated as drivers for entire regions. We are (supposedly).

If the airport takes off then great but I would be more than happy with Dublin Aerospace having a maintenance hub there and having the possibility to link to a small number of major cities across the world/Europe. This is particularly important to Ireland with the UK increasingly going their separate way. We used to be able to rely on them as a sort of bridge to the continent but they will increasingly become a barrier so it is vital that we build up our ports and airports at this time.

If that also allows us to have some passenger flights to some major European cities then great.

So because we were supposedly a driver for this region we should moan alot because things dont come our way from time to time? I dont understand peoples obsession with us having this and that. I mean in the grand scheme of things what does it matter? We already have a nice place to live. We arent destroyed with crime or jammed with chronic traffic all the time. Our local economy tips away nicely. Yes we would all love it to be better but that isnt always down to the government. It is a well known fact that the council rates are extortionate, the cost of parking is high compared to other places, these are issues in our city that our council are responsible for. Address those in a proactive manner and perhaps businesses will stay open as they can afford to and perhaps people will come in and shop for longer ad they have reasonable parking rates. Imagine asking those people in Kilkenny, Tipp, Wexford about dear old Waterford being the regions driver they would laugh at you. It's like some people here think we are the big brother of everyone else in the South East and we should get first dibs while the rest get hand me downs. The fact is we are getting the hand me downs from Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick and boy does it bother alot of people on here.

I agree about the airport, it would be great if we had some kind of operations there but again it isn't happening because we aren't needed. If that airport was a viable option then it would not be in the mess it is in. I know from being out there through work the place is falling apart. It would take quite an investment to make it an attractive proposition for would be clients but alas it won't happen because it doesn't make economic or logistical sense to invest in it.

We already had passenger flights and none of them lasted too long and alot of it was down to numbers, both financial and bums on seats.

Harry Palmr

alta stare if you were in charge nothing would ever improve would it? Like income levels.

The SE is the poorest region per capita in the country along with the NW corner, Waterford is the poorest regional City (ie proper city) in the country by some distance now. That will not improve if "tipping away" is the height of ambition.

Hand me downs from the other cities are non existent as there is no such thing. Or do you know something about money and other resources being turned down by Cork, Limerick, Galway and Dublin? I'd love to know where this largesse is!

alta stare

Harry Palmr wrote: »

alta stare if you were in charge nothing would ever improve would it? Like income levels.

The SE is the poorest region per capita in the country along with the NW corner, Waterford is the poorest regional City (ie proper city) in the country by some distance now. That will not improve if "tipping away" is the height of ambition.

Hand me down from the other cities are non existent as there is no such thing. Or do you know something about money and other resources being turned down by Cork, Limerick, Galway and Dublin? I'd love to know what this largesse is!

maybe i am

I tell ya i just dont see the point of coming on to Boards whinging and moaning all the time about things which in the grand scheme of things doesn't matter a whole load. We have a nice place to live, we have mountains, beaches etc which i like to explore so i guess i just like to go out and enjoy those things instead of consuming other peoples anger and resentment spurred on by a cohort of people on here.

Go out and enjoy yourselves and stop worrying about what the government are going to do about our airport or our North Quays. If the spoofer and his backers are seriously interested in the North Quays they will build it and if ye all care so much why not protest down outside city hall regarding rates and the likes....ye won't though as it is easier to bitch and moan on here about the government.

alta stare

alta stare wrote: »

maybe i am

I tell ya i just dont see the point of coming on to Boards whinging and moaning all the time about things which in the grand scheme of things doesn't matter a whole load. We have a nice place to live, we have mountains, beaches etc which i like to explore so i guess i just like to go out and enjoy those things instead of consuming other peoples anger and resentment spurred on by a cohort of people on here.

Go out and enjoy yourselves and stop worrying about what the government are going to do about our airport or our North Quays. If the spoofer and his backers are seriously interested in the North Quays they will build it and if ye all care so much why not protest down outside city hall regarding rates and the likes....ye won't though as it is easier to bitch and moan on here about the government.

So basically put up and shut up,while everyone watches waterford fall further behind rest of the state??


The government is going to slash all inputs into the city and county....its always the way,likely to be worse under a cork taoiseach imho.....people openly saying,they are going closing airport,tolling M50 and downgrading/slashing grants to WIT to kill off calls for universaity staus,

While what has gone on in downgrading ardkeen is well documented

alta stare

[Deleted User] wrote: »

So basically put up and shut up,while everyone watches waterford fall further behind rest of the state??


The government is going to slash all inputs into the city and county....its always the way,likely to be worse under a cork taoiseach imho.....people openly saying,they are going closing airport,tolling M50 and downgrading/slashing grants to WIT to kill off calls for universaity staus,

While what has gone on in downgrading ardkeen is well documented

No not at all. What we badly need in this city is a new bridge. What we need is the council is drop the rates to a workable level which encourage businesses to remain open. What we need is accept we aren't the regions leaders who should automatically get things off the government. We are but another sibling (county) who arent as big as we think which has to do what it can to get attention off its parent (government) and when we dont get it there is no point in sulking.

The government has done worse to other counties. I do agree the way the government has been formed is disgraceful and i cant see it lasting. Michael Martin will be a terrible leader.

Closing the airport? Waterford's airport? It is pretty much closed.

Tolling the M50???? What? I will take an educated guess and presume you mean the M9. You still havent shown where you are pulling this notion out of.

Any changes which challenge WIT's standing should be rightly opposed. That is a given.

The hospital has had investment. Yes we could do with more but again there are others out there in worse health than ours. Of course we should always strive for better facilities but we have to accept we wont always get what we want whenever we want it. Should we have a cath lab? Absolutely. Should we have a proper functioning A&E? Absolutely....now they are just two things we should without doubt have access to........... yet we say that and we believe we deserve it more than other counties.....why?

azimuth17

alta stare wrote: »

No not at all. What we badly need in this city is a new bridge. What we need is the council is drop the rates to a workable level which encourage businesses to remain open. What we need is accept we aren't the regions leaders who should automatically get things off the government. We are but another sibling (county) who arent as big as we think which has to do what it can to get attention off its parent (government) and when we dont get it there is no point in sulking.

The government has done worse to other counties. I do agree the way the government has been formed is disgraceful and i cant see it lasting. Michael Martin will be a terrible leader.

Closing the airport? Waterford's airport? It is pretty much closed.

Tolling the M50???? What? I will take an educated guess and presume you mean the M9. You still havent shown where you are pulling this notion out of.

Any changes which challenge WIT's standing should be rightly opposed. That is a given.

The hospital has had investment. Yes we could do with more but again there are others out there in worse health than ours. Of course we should always strive for better facilities but we have to accept we wont always get what we want whenever we want it. Should we have a cath lab? Absolutely. Should we have a proper functioning A&E? Absolutely....now they are just two things we should without doubt have access to........... yet we say that and we believe we deserve it more than other counties.....why?

I don't know why I bother, but I am afraid you just don't understand regional policy. I don't believe you are from Waterford and if you are, you understand very little about medical educational or commercial development in the context of regional policy. Your lack of ambition for the place you are from (not) is part of the reason the south east is lagging economically and has lagged for several decades. In simple terms, the region is an entity and in every region , regional services tend to agglomerate in the largest centre of population. If the south east wants those services it is reasonable for Waterford to seek to have them located here. Failure to do that, regardless of whether people understand the idea of a city being a regional driver or not, is the problem the south east suffers from.

One example: if you have cancer and need radiotherapy, the only place in the south east you can get it is in Waterford. In my experience, there are very many people in Wexford, Kilkenny, South Tipp etc who are extremely grateful for that fact regardless of whether they buy into the idea of regional driver or not.

alta stare

azimuth17 wrote: »

I don't know why I bother, but I am afraid you just don't understand regional policy. I don't believe you are from Waterford and if you are, you understand very little about medical educational or commercial development in the context of regional policy. Your lack of ambition for the place you are from (not) is part of the reason the south east is lagging economically and has lagged for several decades. In simple terms, the region is an entity and in every region , regional services tend to agglomerate in the largest centre of population. If the south east wants those services it is reasonable for Waterford to seek to have them located here. Failure to do that, regardless of whether people understand the idea of a city being a regional driver or not, is the problem the south east suffers from.

One example: if you have cancer and need radiotherapy, the only place in the south east you can get it is in Waterford. In my experience, there are very many people in Wexford, Kilkenny, South Tipp etc who are extremely grateful for that fact regardless of whether they buy into the idea of regional driver or not.

Jesus you don't believe i am from Waterford and if i am i dont understand bla bla bla congratulations on the worst reply to a post iv seen yet. Ffs ye are getting worse and worse on here.

And you dont know why you bother....maybe it is because have nothing else to be doing? If a post like mine affects you enough to come out with a reply like that i think it's time you sit back and think why you post on Boards in the first place.

azimuth17

alta stare wrote: »

Jesus you don't believe i am from Waterford and if i am i dont understand bla bla bla congratulations on the worst reply to a post iv seen yet. Ffs ye are getting worse and worse on here.

And you dont know why you bother....maybe it is because have nothing else to be doing? If a post like mine affects you enough to come out with a reply like that i think it's time you sit back and think why you post on Boards in the first place.

Quod erat demonstrandum.

Harry Palmr

alta stare

So you're just here wasting time basically? Fine but do so in less political threads.

spaceCreated

alta stare.... comes on boards, complains about people complaining and saying people should not be complaining on boards... wtf...

mart 23

From reading the CSO census regional population figures ,all of Tipperarys population are included in the Mid-West and have been since 2017 Mid-west have 470k and South-east 420k.

azimuth17

mart 23 wrote: »

From reading the CSO census regional population figures ,all of Tipperarys population are included in the Mid-West and have been since 2017 Mid-west have 470k and South-east 420k.

Tipp was united as a county during Mr Hogan's term as Minister for the Environment and for NUTS purposes had to be shown in one region. Political power AKA Mr Noonan determined that. That does not affect the realities on the ground. I would imagine that even allowing for regional leakage (near Limerick, North Carlow, North Wexford etc) the south east still has a large enough population to be considered as a viable entity. That being the case, medical, educational, commercial and state investment are required in Waterford and across the whole region. I would much prefer to see people being upset about 1% of the National Plan funding coming to the south east which has a population of circa 10% of the national population, instead of people (some with little understanding) posting here about proposals for Waterford, which I as a Waterford man feel we are entitled to make, they should be arguing for a fair share of state funding. We have been set at each other's throats so long in the south east, fighting each other, arguing the toss, we have lost track of where the actual fight (funding) is.

Deiseen

alta stare wrote: »

maybe i am

I tell ya i just dont see the point of coming on to Boards whinging and moaning all the time about things which in the grand scheme of things doesn't matter a whole load. We have a nice place to live, we have mountains, beaches etc which i like to explore so i guess i just like to go out and enjoy those things instead of consuming other peoples anger and resentment spurred on by a cohort of people on here.

Go out and enjoy yourselves and stop worrying about what the government are going to do about our airport or our North Quays. If the spoofer and his backers are seriously interested in the North Quays they will build it and if ye all care so much why not protest down outside city hall regarding rates and the likes....ye won't though as it is easier to bitch and moan on here about the government.

You've had the knives out for Rob since day one. I'll admit that he comes across as a bit eccentric but your hostility towards him is very very strange to say the least. So what is with the chip?

I tend to judge people on what they deliver and it looks like tomorrow, Rob will have gotten full planning permission for a development that will (hopefully) formulate the largest instance of FDI ever delivered in the history of the state outside of Dublin.

Christ, if he's a spoofer then what the hell are you? What are any of us?

hardybuck

Fair play to you Alta Stare for standing your ground. There's a hardcore of people on this forum who seem to believe that there's a form of conspiracy against them and don't realise how silly they sound.

Even the name of this thread is bizarre. If it was something like ”how oblivious will this Government be of Waterford?" or something along those lines it might make more sense.

Harry Palmr

mart 23 wrote: »

From reading the CSO census regional population figures ,all of Tipperarys population are included in the Mid-West and have been since 2017 Mid-west have 470k and South-east 420k.

Yes this is the case, Tipp has been officially co-opted into the midwest, the merging of the North and South ridings was always likely to prompt the change even if it's a bit weird given the nearest bit of Tipp is less than 15 miles way. Still that's the odd way this country is run - not on the basis of genuine cohesive regions but county lines.

alias no.9

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Yes this is the case, Tipp has been officially co-opted into the midwest, the merging of the North and South ridings was always likely to prompt the change even if it's a bit weird given the nearest bit of Tipp is less than 15 miles way. Still that's the odd way this country is run - not on the basis of genuine cohesive regions but county lines.

Nearest bit of Tipp to Limerick city is about 7 miles and Nenagh as the admistrative capital of North Tipp is closer to Limerick (marginally) than Clonmel as the administrative capital of South Tipp is to Waterford.

Once Tipp was unified, it had to go one way or the other. Carrick may be remote from Limerick but less so than Roscrea is from Waterford.

It had to go somewhere, all of North Tipp and some of South Tipp fits in the midwest, maybe it was just the marginally less bad choice from two flawed options.

Wanderer78

Deiseen wrote:

You've had the knives out for Rob since day one. I'll admit that he comes across as a bit eccentric but your hostility towards him is very very strange to say the least. So what is with the chip?

Cass is actually very arrogant and somewhat narcissistic, and I've had conversations with others who believe the same, but you d have to give it to him if manages to get this over the line, it's a hell of a project, but it will cause some negative issues if it does occur

Deiseen

Wanderer78 wrote: »

Cass is actually very arrogant and somewhat narcissistic, and I've had conversations with others who believe the same, but you d have to give it to him if manages to get this over the line, it's a hell of a project, but it will cause some negative issues if it does occur

I don't personally know him so can't comment too much. Do you know him or are you going on his social media (as I am)?

Without personally knowing him then it is difficult to comment but calling him a spoofer to me is madness considering what he's achieved so far. Obviously we are not there yet so lets wait until its done or dead before questioning Robs abilities.

Wanderer78

Deiseen wrote: »

I don't personally know him so can't comment too much. Do you know him or are you going on his social media (as I am)?

Without personally knowing him then it is difficult to comment but calling him a spoofer to me is madness considering what he's achieved so far. Obviously we are not there yet so lets wait until its done or dead before questioning Robs abilities.

no i dont know him personally, but arrogant/narcissistic behavior is sometimes easily spotted in text communication, its very evident amongst social media users, including boards users. the ego tends to be fragile with this behavior, cass has no time for opposing views and opinions, there are well known negatives to such projects, but cass has not given me much confidence how these are gonna be addressed. i have a lot of respect for him, this is an amazing idea, if he manages to get it over the line, but at the moment, im not convinced this is gonna be a win win for all, in fact im deeply concerned about it.

i will agree though, calling him a spoofer is little too far

BBM77

Wanderer78 wrote: »

no i dont know him personally, but arrogant/narcissistic behavior is sometimes easily spotted in text communication, its very evident amongst social media users, including boards users. the ego tends to be fragile with this behavior, cass has no time for opposing views and opinions, there are well known negatives to such projects, but cass has not given me much confidence how these are gonna be addressed. i have a lot of respect for him, this is an amazing idea, if he manages to get it over the line, but at the moment, im not convinced this is gonna be a win win for all, in fact im deeply concerned about it.

i will agree though, calling him a spoofer is little too far

What are the well know negatives? I know of only one, the negative effect on the existing city centre shops. Personally I don’t agree with it.

Wanderer78

BBM77 wrote: »

What are the well know negatives? I know of only one, the negative effect on the existing city centre shops. Personally I don’t agree with it.

causing further asset price inflation, i suspect many of the jobs created will be of the lower end of the market, projects like this can sometimes have a negative effect on pre existing businesses, via monopolization etc, and overall excessive net wealth extraction

BBM77

Wanderer78 wrote: »

causing further asset price inflation, i suspect many of the jobs created will be of the lower end of the market, projects like this can sometimes have a negative effect on pre existing businesses, via monopolization etc, and overall excessive net wealth extraction

Fair enough.

azimuth17

Wanderer78 wrote: »

causing further asset price inflation, i suspect many of the jobs created will be of the lower end of the market, projects like this can sometimes have a negative effect on pre existing businesses, via monopolization etc, and overall excessive net wealth extraction

Eyes roll back into head!

Wanderer78

azimuth17 wrote: »

Eyes roll back into head!

doesnt sound good, check in with the doc maybe

real life problems believe it or not for many, particularly those that dont own assets, mainly younger generations

Deiseen

Wanderer78 wrote: »

causing further asset price inflation, i suspect many of the jobs created will be of the lower end of the market, projects like this can sometimes have a negative effect on pre existing businesses, via monopolization etc, and overall excessive net wealth extraction

You do realise there is offices going in there and that also Waterford has a huge unemployment problem?

I understand the fear from existing businesses but some would argue it will bring extra people into Waterford and stop the natives from leaving to shop, which they do in their absolute droves. It's like the great migration with the amount of money leaving the city/county every week.

ryan1990

I'm not from Waterford but I've strong family roots in the city and county and I’ve had a lot of time off recently and have been looking into this. Even from the 1960s – I’m told Waterford always lagged behind Dublin, Cork, Galway and Limerick – but the wealth gap wasn’t always as significant or as obvious as it is today.

Unemployment

Waterford was hit particularly hard by the recession and has never recovered. Over 3,000 jobs were lost when Waterford Crystal closed – a further 500 went with TalkTalk and approximately 300 were lost as a result of Sanofi Aventis shutting up shop. To lose approximately 4,000 jobs in a small city of approximately 50,000 people – is catastrophic. Thousands of people were stuck on the dole long-term and haven’t been re-employed since. Waterford and the south-east have been completely overlooked by successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Governments. Last year the Government’s capital spend was approximately 67 times higher in Dublin alone (almost €6 billion) than the entire south-east region (€77 million). The jobs are not returning to Waterford. At one point a few years ago – the unemployment rate in Waterford City was 26% - to this day it’s still almost five times the national average.

Healthcare Inequality

The south-east is the only region without a 24/7 cath lab. Micheál Martin promised a 24/7 cath lab for the south-east as far back as 2009. Since then three Waterford natives have died of a heart attack in an ambulance on route to Cork. There are 21 cath labs in Dublin – with many hospitals in Dublin having multiple labs - some of which are 24/7 labs. The south-east (Tipperary, Wexford, Waterford, Kilkenny, Carlow) has a population of approximately 500,000 – but is without 24/7 healthcare or a University. Leo Varadkar told Doctors at UHW that he was “too busy” to meet with them when they expressed their concerns. Partially as a result of this – during the 2020 General Election - the south-east was the only region where Fine Gael didn’t get the most first preference votes in any of their regional constituencies. Not a single Fine Gael candidate was returned in Waterford or in Tipperary – however Fine Gael candidates received the most first preference votes in 8 constituencies (Dublin Bay South, Dublin Dún Laoghaire, Dublin Rathdown, Wicklow, Meath East, Limerick County, Galway East and Mayo).

Compare and Despair

A lot of people have compared Waterford to Galway – as two cities with similar-ish populations (Galway is slightly bigger by about 30% or so). A simple look at the deprivation indices reveals that there are 4 small areas (i.e housing estates) in Galway City which rank as being disadvantaged – whereas there are 28 in Waterford City. This suggests that approximately 60% of Waterford City’s population live in a disadvantaged area – comparable to the national average of about 10%. A lot of this can be traced to the fact that Galway is home to a University and Galway also receives far more than Waterford in funding – partially due to the revenue created by the tourism industry there (approximately six times more tourists visit Galway than Waterford) – and partially due to Galway being the capital of Connaught (the wealth gap between Leinster and Connaught is often brought up and discussed).

Educational Disadvantage

The fact that Waterford is still without a University brings about an educational disadvantage to Waterford and the south-east. The south-east is the only region in the country without a University and Waterford is the largest town in the country without a University – whereas smaller towns such as Maynooth, Coleraine and now even Tralee enjoy University status. Dublin now has five Universities. Last year – approximately 1 in 2 students who sat the Leaving Cert nationwide went on to attend a University – whereas in Waterford approximately 1 in 4 students who sat the Leaving Cert went on to attend a University – this being the second lowest rate of the 26 counties - after Donegal (this may be considered inaccurate as this was taken from CSO data which doesn't include Universities in Northern Ireland - of which some people from Donegal would attend). A much higher proportion from Waterford tend to attend Institute of Technologies. Those from Waterford who do attend Universities tend not to return home due to the lack of high-paid jobs in the region – and the cycle of educational disadvantage continues. Last year – as was the case in many prior years – no Waterford school featured in the top 100 schools in the country based on academic performance. The only other two counties not to feature were Laois and Longford. 41 Dublin schools, 21 Cork schools and 10 Limerick schools featured in the top 100.

Knock-on Effects

The above facts and stats have negative knock-on effects which probably do run parallel to one another. Last year Waterford had the highest divorce rate in the country – whereas county Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown (the wealthiest county in the country – includes Dublin 4, Dublin 14, Dublin 18 and south-east county Dublin) had the lowest. Waterford now has the highest number of babies (approximately 2 in 3) who’re born out of wedlock (not typically relevant however the argument is that they're possibly more likely to end up relying on one stream of income - in a region with a lot of low-paid jobs) whereas county Dún-Laoghaire-Rathdown (again) has the lowest. Waterford county always seems to have among the highest suicide rates in the country – comparable to the four Dublin counties which seem to constantly have the four lowest suicide rates (with county Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown constantly having the lowest rate here too). Rural Ireland has always had a much higher suicide rate than urban Ireland and there are disadvantaged villages littered across Waterford with a complete lack of amenities (Cappoquin, Tallow, Clashmore, Kilmacthomas, Lemybrien, Portlaw etc). While Dublin’s north-inner city has the highest crime rate in the state – as a county – Waterford often has (although this fluctuates) the highest crime rate (a lot of which is drugs-related continuing the tendency for unemployed young men to turn to drugs). The crime rate in Waterford is constantly far higher than the national average and is usually about three times higher than areas such as Wicklow, Meath and south-west Cork. All the above probably do go in tandem with Waterford having the highest unemployment and poverty rates in the state.

The South-East

The only region without a University – the only region without 24/7 healthcare. The region with the highest poverty and unemployment rates in the state. It looks bleak in comparison to the rest of the country (without being naïve enough to think that your average person from eastern Europe, south-east Asia or Africa wouldn’t bite your hand off to live in the south-east of our country). We cannot discuss Waterford without discussing the south-east as a whole. One thing I've noticed when comparing the south-east to other areas of similar population - is that the south-east now only has one private school - Rockwell College in county Tipperary . Rockwell College is actually located much closer to both Cork and Limerick cities - than it is to Waterford City (I understand there's none in the north-west either - but three of these counties - Derry, Tyrone & Fermanagh come under Northern Ireland's jurisdiction - leaving Donegal, Leitrim, Monaghan & Cavan - an area with a population of fewer than 300,000 and where the biggest town - Letterkenny - is home to fewer than 20,000 - so not a great comparison).
In comparison there are eight private schools in Cork, and even Connaught has two - one in both Galway and in Sligo (there are 39 in Dublin! and a few more in their neighbouring counties!). This I feel is actually a good thing and something which certainly doesn't need to be addressed (even if I had the money I wouldn't send my children to one of these schools due to the snobbery tendencies associated with many of them), however it goes someway to pointing toward the demographics of the south-east and relative to other areas - the distinct lack of people with "too much money" per se. Kilkenny in fairness – is a bit richer than the five counties it shares a border with (Waterford, Wexford, Carlow, Tipperary and Laois). I honestly don’t know why this is – perhaps it’s related to the ethos of the Kilkenny College secondary school - which is majority Protestant? I’ve also read that only counties Kildare and Wicklow – two of the richest counties in the country – had fewer instances than Kilkenny during the War of Independence – perhaps it was historically seen as a safer area to earn a better wage and it’s continued from there? Kilkenny is not a rich county however – the median household income in Kilkenny is approximately €45,000 – more or less on que with the national average - whereas it’s closer to €35,000 in Waterford, Tipperary and Wexford. The average median household income rate in Dublin is DOUBLE the average median household income in the south-east – minus Kilkenny. There’s a tendency amongst some to believe that Kilkenny people are generally better qualified to work in the few high-paying jobs in not just Kilkenny City but in Waterford City too. Over 10% of the country’s population live in affluent areas – however in Waterford – this number can be rounded to just 1% living in affluent areas (Castlewoods, Dunmore Road and the King’s Channel) – and I’d imagine we can say the same thing here about Wexford as well. Towns such as Enniscorthy, New Ross, Tipperary and Carrick-on-Suir have unemployment rates that are approximately five to six times higher than the national average. In twenty short years Wexford has gone from being the 10th most deprived (17th richest of the 26) to the 4th most deprived (23rd richest of the 26) county in the state. Bunclody and Taghmon are arguably the most economically depressed villages in the state. So it’s fair to say that the south-east in general has been left behind.

Beautiful people – beautiful scenery

Having said all this – Waterford is blessed. Be it the Knockmealdown mountains in the west of the county, the Comeragh mountains in the middle of the county or the vast array of beaches along the copper coast – the scenery is breath-taking. Waterford people are amongst the most genuine, friendliest, down-to-earth people you’ll ever come across. They love their hurling and their soccer and they’re proud of their Irish heritage and their Gaeltacht region. Great characters. It’s such a shame that it has been constantly either overlooked or looked down on by those in power – because the people and the place really has the potential to flourish – if treated equally.

What’s changing?

Unfortunately not a lot it seems. This Fianna Fáil/Fine Gael coalition Government is not what the people of Waterford voted for. Waterford was the only 4 candidate constituency to return fewer than two Fianna Fáil/Fine Gael candidates to the Dáil in the recent General Election. There’s nothing regarding 24/7 healthcare or a University for the south-east in the newest Government programme. It’s highly likely that Waterford and the south-east will continue to lag further behind the richer areas of the country (Cork and the Dublin metropolitan area). There are now no Ministers from any of the south-east constituencies. Cork has a similar population to the five south-east counties (500,000) – yet Cork now has three ministers – Dublin has six and the Dublin metropolitan area has nine. The fact that there were also none chosen from Connaught was brought up in the Dáil – and this was then promised to be addressed when choosing the the Junior Ministers – however not a lot was said for the South-East. And so the cycle continues.

Wanderer2010

^ Very concise post there and hard to argue with.

However, in a sea of facts, your statement about babies born out of wedlock jarred in shocking contrast to the rest of your arguments and seems so out of place, by at least 5 decades! Im not sure what the status of babies has got to do with the South East and all our governmental neglect in terms of education, investment and employment. There are all manner of partnerships out there now from the top to the bottom of the country, from co-habiting couples with or without children, single mothers and fathers, adopted children with gay and straight guardians as well as children in care or hospitals. Maybe if it was 1970 and we were under the vice grip of the cult, sorry church, it may be more relevant but im not sure that adds to your argument at all.

Not trying to be harsh here, just mentioning it as it stood out for me.

ryan1990

Wanderer2010 wrote: »

^ Very concise post there and hard to argue with.

However, in a sea of facts, your statement about babies born out of wedlock jarred in shocking contrast to the rest of your arguments and seems so out of place, by at least 5 decades! Im not sure what the status of babies has got to do with the South East and all our governmental neglect in terms of education, investment and employment. There are all manner of partnerships out there now from the top to the bottom of the country, from co-habiting couples with or without children, single mothers and fathers, adopted children with gay and straight guardians as well as children in care or hospitals. Maybe if it was 1970 and we were under the vice grip of the cult, sorry church, it may be more relevant but im not sure that adds to your argument at all.

Not trying to be harsh here, just mentioning it as it stood out for me.

That's fair enough - I don't think it's relevant either - just included it as some people think it might be relevant (i.e kids born out of wedlock are probably more likely to grow up in a single parent household - the kids may not have the same opportunities as they may be relying on one stream of income instead of two - might be harder for them to fulfil their potential etc)

Just found it interesting that the typically richer areas have very few kids born out of wedlock etc