Captial Investment & Infrastructure

Again, as a city, a county or indeed a region, Waterford and the South East are under-invested in when it comes to game-changing Capital spending. I refer you to the illustration below from the latest Economic Monitor.

The IDA continues to under deliver in our region, resulting in thousands of lost jobs. The jobs we do have - despite exceptions - tend to be at the lower end of the pay scale. This results in lower incomes and lower levels of disposable incomes making the whole economic cycle for our shops, restaurants and other businesses much more difficult. State agencies should be required to deliver within reason, for the entire country. There is already an acknowledgement that Dublin is over-heated while the regions can and should be invested in to provide the counter-balance. We even have the National Development Plan with this specific aim. But aims on paper and aims in practice are two different things in Ireland. Our Inter-city routes with the exception of Dublin are appalling. Our train services, despite recent improvements, remain below optimum. Try getting a train or driving to Limerick if you don't believe me.

Heading after heading; sector after sector can all be traced back to one simple thing in my view: bad management. Unaccountable management done away from the lens of public scrutiny with no parameters, no inherent fairness, no demand for geographical balance, no measures and no consequences is not governance at all. It is at best a free for all where those who have done well continue to do so and those who have not, left with no hope for anything better for the future. This is no way to govern a country or a people.

If the Social Democrats stand for one thing, in a nutshell that would be for the delivery of fair public services. That the investment you put in to government gives you a fair and efficient public services whether you live in Waterford or Galway, Wexford or Tralee. This and successive governments have not governed mindfully, they have not sought to treat all our citizens equally.