I apologise to Deputy Shanahan as I should have called him earlier.

I raise the lack of State delivery to Waterford and the south east. I must first congratulate the Tánaiste on a great European election in Ireland South. Billy Kelleher romping home was expected, but having Cynthia Ní Mhurchú pipping Grace O'Sullivan was somewhat surprising. It must have been very pleasing for the Tánaiste, if not for his Green Party colleagues. Of course, Cynthia's big marketing push in Waterford was a video in front of Waterford Airport calling for the runway extension to accommodate passenger jet aircraft to the south east. This is the long-awaited runway extension for the south east that was approved at Cabinet in 2007, only to be pulled in the unpleasantness that followed when promised full State funding of €25 million was withdrawn. The contrast for many in Waterford, watching the Tánaiste steer and cheer on the runway renewal in Cork Airport at the start of this Government was quite stark. This Government pulled €350,000 annual stop-gap funding from Waterford Airport in 2020. The Tánaiste, who was then the Taoiseach, was pictured eating a big slice of cake on the €40 million completed Cork runway, which was the quickest capital project in the history of the State. That prompted me to ask whether he was a Cork Taoiseach or a Taoiseach from Cork.

Cynthia Ní Mhurchú cleaned out Grace O’Sullivan with 2,000 voters from Waterford who were simply disgusted at the Minister's, Eamon Ryan’s, dismissive treatment of the Waterford Airport business case, telling the Dáil that he had not seen it, despite it being six weeks in his Department.

The bottom line is, the runway extension is not happening, just as the promised South East Technological University, SETU, capital investment is not happening and just as the promised cardiac care expansion and investment in our stroke services and acute care capacity is not happening. There is no investment in University Hospital Waterford at all. The truth is that Waterford is being played by this Government. Fianna Fáil is living on borrowed political time, with promises given but undelivered in our city and county, such as the fresh ones Cynthia Ní Mhurchú used to take out Grace O’Sullivan. She was talking from the Fianna Fáil playbook. The Tánaiste stood in that infamous 24-7 photo, with a political promise made in 2016 that got the Minister of State, Deputy Mary Butler, elected and got Fianna Fáil back in Waterford. He knew exactly what he was doing when he had that poster printed and stood for that photo with that promise. The intervening period of confidence and supply has sailed by, as has Deputy Martin’s time as Taoiseach and four and a half years of Fianna Fáil senior and junior health Ministers directing national health policy. Yet, 24-7 provision and equal funding of our model 4 hospital is no further along. I have a brutally simple question. Will 24-7 provision and the airport be done at the time of the next general election? Will the Tánaiste keep his promises to the people of the south east?

I have listened to the same Leaders' Questions from Deputy Shanahan for four years now. I do not believe he is being fair in his description of the economic, educational or health development and expansion in Waterford. Waterford is very strong in terms of employment. Employment is up 26% across the south east. We are in an era of full employment. Enterprise Ireland client companies across Waterford, Wexford and Kilkenny are doing extremely well. The local enterprise office has a very strong budget. Foreign direct investment is up 25% in terms of IDA clients increasing, with 86 IDA client companies employing 15,000 people in the south east. The north quays project represented a Government approval of €170 million investment in Waterford's north quays. Every time the Deputy speaks on Leaders' Questions, he just ignores that. He says the Government has no commitment to Waterford. It is over a year since the ground was broken on that north quays project, which is a very significant project in terms of the regeneration of Waterford. Irish Rail is also investing in Waterford.

With regard to SETU, I remember at the beginning of this Government the Deputy raised that issue. It has been an ongoing issue. That has been established. The Government announced on 9 November last year the approval of the purchase of the Waterford Crystal site. Final contracts to purchase 20.3 acres of that 37-acre site were signed on 20 November 2023. That will allow real expansion of SETU's Waterford activities. I recall the Deputy saying to me that it will lose out to Carlow or somewhere else. It is expanding and growing. It has grown ever since I bought the land for Waterford technological college at the time.

Schools across Waterford are getting higher investment. Staffing at the hospital has gone up 44% since 2019. That represents 841 extra people working in the hospital. The figure went from 1,949 to 2,805. There are 47 more consultants, 100 more non-consultant hospital doctors, 370 more nurses and midwives, as well as 123 more health and social care professionals. In 2019, Waterford University Hospital had a budget of €201 million. In 2024, that is now €290 million. That is an €89 million increase in the budget to the hospital. The Deputy also knows that the opening hours for the first cath laboratory were extended to 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday to Friday, in September 2022. In regard to pay and provision, in 2024 there are 22 staff in total to complement existing services and to extend the opening hours of the cath lab. There is also a review ongoing.

In 2019, approval was given in principle of an expression of support for an expansion proposal at Waterford Airport. The Minister of State, Deputy Lawless, is very open to the presentations that have been made. I will come back to that in a supplementary response.

I do not want to accuse the Tánaiste, in reading out those statements, of living in a parallel universe when it comes to Waterford but they do not reflect the reality of the situation.

Trust and integrity are fundamental parts of what we should be doing in politics. We are not seeing that with regard to the delivery in my city and county.

The next day I come in here, maybe I will bring all of the figures for all of the acute model 4 hospitals, and the Tánaiste will see a similar rise and similar headcount, all of which is because the health budget has moved on. That is not unique to Waterford, and Waterford University Hospital remains the lowest funded model 4 hospital in the country. It a year since the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, who is seated beside the Tánaiste, came to Waterford and announced that the seven-day cardiac expansion would begin at the end of last year. It is six months since the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, said recruitment would begin in January of this year. To date, there has been no recruitment and no seven-day expansion. We still do not have weekend heart attack services in the hospital.

Regarding the airport, this Government withdrew €350,000 in annual stopgap funding to shore up losses at the airport, yet the Tánaiste tried to tell us that the Government is supporting the project.

With regard to SETU, an engineering build that has been on the capital programme since 2009 is still not done. The total expenditure in the university the Tánaiste says is done has been €4 million on a land acquisition, and the Government is allowing the private sector to step in to provide student accommodation. Nothing has been done by way of courses, professorships or new faculties. That is the reality on the ground.

I disagree with the Deputy on the impact-----

Disagree away; those are the facts.

The university has come on in leaps and bounds over the last decade or two. Sometimes you also have to promote institutions-----

Where is the investment?

Let the Tánaiste answer, please.

-----and not always be negative.

On the airport, there has been ongoing engagement between the Department and Waterford Airport. An updated submission was received as late as 23 April. Some of the matters raised by the Department had been addressed. Some detail remained outstanding. I think that came in on 27 May and further detail was also provided on 2 July. A business case has to be made for the proposals because they will require a significant degree of State aid. Any plan must be supported by robust empirical evidence. The Minister of State, Deputy Lawless, will now consider this. There is a public-private aspect to this proposal and obviously, there are issues there. It is not comparable to existing State airports that have been there for decades but the Deputy is trying to make that comparison. Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports have been there for a long time.

In the past three years, €200 million was put into the national aviation sector and not a penny went to Waterford.

Please allow the Tánaiste to answer.

The Deputy and I both know that it is not as simple an issue as just saying, let us allocate a sum of money and it all happens.

Time is up now. We are way out of time.

That is not the way it works in the real world. It is fair to say-----

We are way over time.

-----there has been huge progress in the economy in Waterford, with regard to investment in the infrastructure, the public realm, the north quays, the university and the hospital as well.