Carlow native MEP says she will meet the new Minister for Transport on the Waterford Airport

Carlow native and MEP for Ireland South, Cynthia Ní Mhurchú says she will beat down a path to the door of new the Minister for Transport to honour a programme for Government commitment to “work with all stakeholders to quickly progress the Waterford Airport project to lengthen and widen the runway”.

Ireland South MEP and member of the EU Transport Committee, Cynthia Ní Mhurchú, has called on all politicians in the South East to work together to ensure that Waterford Airport has commercial flights landing and departing from the airport by summer 2026 at the latest.

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The Ireland South MEP has extended an invitation to the incoming Transport Minister, when s/he is appointed, to meet her, and other politicians, on the runway of Waterford airport to see first-hand the potential benefits a government investment in the airport could make for the South East of the country.

Ní Mhurchú has been making the case for further investment in Waterford airport at the highest levels of EU governance.

A boost for the Waterford region

According to the Airports Council International, a +10% increase in direct air connectivity comes with a +0.5% increase in GDP per capita for a region. Approximately half of all European flights depart from regional airports which drives investment, creates jobs and connects remote parts of Europe like the South East coast of Ireland.

Ní Mhurchú said the departure of former Minister Eamon Ryan from the Department of Transport is a welcome opportunity to reinvest in our regional airports, like Waterford,

“I have little doubt that much of the resistance to funding Waterford airport came from an ideological position taken by Eamon Ryan.”

“I am now calling on all politicians, from all parties, to work to put pressure on the incoming Minister for Transport, whoever that may be, to progress the investment that is on the table at Waterford airport. I will be meeting with Ryanair in my role as an MEP on the EU Transport Committee and will be inviting senior people in Ryanair to meet with executives at Waterford airport in the coming months. Now is the time to strike as Dublin airport is turning away flights. A newly reopened Waterford airport could benefit from this crisis at Dublin airport."

“The keys to the airport are in the hands of the new Minister and I will be making my position known to them, loud and clear. I hope they will join me on the runway in Waterford airport to see for themselves the potential that exists for the South East region.”

Ní Mhurchú welcomed the advance payment of €367,000 by Waterford City and County Council to Waterford Regional Airport Plc in 2024 to finance continued operations. The payment was part of the Council's continuing capital commitment to the proposed runway extension at the airport. She also welcomed the comments of William Bolster, the Director of the Bolster Group - the main investor in the airport – who recently repeated his company's commitment to the strategic development of the airport for the economy of the South East.