Waterford dogged by political wrangling as job cuts hit home

POLITICAL wrangling between TDs has begun in Waterford, even before there’s a hint of an election.

Waterford Fianna Fáil TD Ollie Wilkinson has accused his constituency rival in Dungarvan, Fine Gael’s John Deasy, of “watching morning television” - a reference to Mr Deasy’s recent marriage to TV3 morning show presenter Maura Derrane.

Pressure is building within the constituency to find replacement employment for the proposed 485 job losses at Waterford Crystal.

Mr Wilkinson has hit out at what he has described as “Fine Gael’s new-found concern for the Waterford Crystal workers”, adding that it is “laughable”.

Mr Wilkinson also accused Fine Gael frontbencher John Deasy of going to ground in the wake of the jobs cuts while others held emergency talks with business leaders and Government ministers.

However, Mr Deasy said he would not be drawn into the row and said he is not going to respond to the bulk of what Mr Wilkinson said. “This is not the first time this has happened. But for the record, with regard to his claim that I did not attend a meeting set up with Enterprise Minister Micheál Martin about the Waterford Crystal situation, the minister apologised to me for a mix up in the arrangements for the meeting and we met the following week.”

But Mr Wilkinson was standing firm. “It appears the honeymoon is over for Deputy Deasy. The fact is he did nothing after the devastating job cuts in Waterford Crystal. Nor did he say anything. I do not believe Fine Gael cares one jot about replacement jobs for the Waterford Crystal workers.”

On the day the Waterford Crystal job cuts were announced, Mr Wilkinson said he spoke in the Dáil and urged the Government and State agencies to redouble their efforts to find alternative jobs.

“But it seems while I work hard to try to undo the damage wrought by these job losses, Deputy Deasy is watching morning television and inventing stories. That approach does not auger well for the so-called rainbow alternative,” said Mr Wilkinson.