There is no point in going on and on about the loss of commercial flights in and out of Waterford Regional Airport but something happens almost every week to make me upset about our state of affairs.
Last week, I spotted a news item about Kerry Airport at Farranfore and tourists from Germany. Over 400,000 German visited Kerry last year and many of them came in and out through Farranfore without moving out of the Kingdom.
Former senior minister Martin Cullen – his influence at the cabinet table is sorely missed.
At present there are two flights a week from Kerry to Frankfurt-Hahn and two flights to Berlin with the Frankfurt flights operating five days a week in the summer. Such is the demand that even more flights from Germany are planned. Imagine the positive effect on our hotels, B&Bs, restaurants and pubs if a similar number were flying into Waterford. Unless Minister of State John Halligan can conjure up a miracle, nothing big is going to happen any time soon.
We really, really need a senior minister because since Martin Cullen retired through ill health we don’t have a big hitter at the cabinet table where all the major decisions are taken. He is sorely missed.