Meagre offer to Waterford Airport: Actions show priorities of Government

Deciding how to spend the money raised through taxation and borrowing is, in the main, a matter of the political priorities of the people elected to make the decisions Should it be €23m spent on wage increases for low-paid public sector workers in health, education, policing, and the Defence Forces — or a similar sum to build a new Irish embassy in Tokyo? That would be the “state-of-the-art” building the Foreign Affairs Department says is needed to replace the current embassy in Japan. The business case provided by our ambassador is that the new embassy — a “major gleaming platform” for promoting Irish exports — will have paid for itself within 20 years.

And there’s transport, too; that’s a high priority for people who think money needs to be found for expanding rail and bus services, and for widening air transport options out from Dublin to the rest of the country. Where are these on the Government’s list of priorities? They’re not at the top. Shane Ross, the transport minister, has offered a helping hand to Waterford Airport, which has been without commercial flights since 2016, and which needs a longer runway.