Louth County Council have had a huge role in bringing you Fleadh Cheoil 2018 to Drogheda
JOAN Martin, Chief Executive, Louth County Council has been a member of and a strong supporter of the Drogheda Fleadh Bid Committee for six years and has travelled the country and internationally canvasing support for the Drogheda bid to host Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann.
Upon the award of the 2018 event in early 2017 – a Fleadh Executive Committee was established with Joan Martin, as the Executive Director and Lolo Robinson of Drogheda Comhaltas as the Cathaoirleach.
A number of Louth County Council staff have assigned roles on the committee including Directors of Service, Paddy Donnelly and Frank Pentony, who serve as Secretary and Treasurer respectively and Colette Moss, Senior Executive Officer.
Paddy Donnelly was seconded to the project in February 2018 and established a Fleadh Secretariat with two staff members Lisa O’Neill and Annmarie Kirwin. The role of the Office is to provide secretariat, Governance Technical and Logistic support to the running of the event.
The Louth County Council (LCC) Fleadh team are coordinating across directorate response from the Local Authority that includes Operations works which have been front loaded to ensure the town of Drogheda is looking its very
best during the event which will bring a national and international spotlight to the town. Planning services have processed the formal event licence application and are engaging with the owners of unoccupied buildings in an effort to improve their appearance.
Water Services are working with Irish Water to ensure all water and waste water services are secured and contingencies are in place to manage any disruptions.
LCC Fire and Rescue have been managing Fire Safety inspections of the 30 plus venues that will host Official Fleadh events not to mention the numerous private venues that will host Fleadh related events.
LCC have led the way by improving the appearance of a number of buildings in Narrow West Street and Dominic’s Bridge and other works are planned including street lighting columns maintenance, signage maintenance and Fleadh specific planting schemes.