LCC open to taking back St Laurence Gate

LOUTH County Council (LCC) may be open to taking back responsibility for the running and maintenance of St Laurence’s Gate, it has been revealed.

Speaking at the October meeting of Drogheda Municipal District, Director of Services with Louth County Council (LCC) Paddy Donnelly said the gate is owned by the council but the guardianship of it is with the OPW because it is a national monument. He said the CEO of Louth County Council Joan Martin would be happy to look at the possibility of taking back the operations if it would progress the issue of the gate.

‘If the better option would be to have it back with Louth County Council (LCC) then we would look at that but for the moment we are keeping our options open,’ he said.

The issue was raised in a notice of motion by Councillor Frank Godfrey who asked that: ‘Louth County Council (LCC) recover the ownership of St Laurence ‘sGate from the Office of Public Works as it belongs to the people of Drogheda and has been neglected by the OPW over the years. It was handed over to the OPW back in the 1960s - it’s time to take it back.’

‘Speaking at the meeting, Councillor Godfrey said he felt it had been a bad decision on the part of the council to hand St Laurences Gate over to the OPW.

Councillor Kevin Callan said he saw where Cllr Godfrey was coming from on this but said there was an issue for the council in that if the money is not there for the upkeep of the gate it’s not there.

He said previously the OPW’s approach was not what it should have been but he said he believes there are changes afoot.

Councillor Oliver Tully said he felt the gate was probably in safer hands with the OPW and said they have done quite a lot of restoration work on it over the years. He said the ‘Close the Gate’ team are working with the OPW to look at streams of funding. ‘Louth County Council don’t have the money for it,’ he said.

Councillor also Tommy Byrne supported the motion