Changing town status is seen as best way forward for the region
IF pride and passion could power electricity, the chandeliers in the Westcourt Hotel would have been burning extra brightly on Wednesday night, as hundreds of locals gathered to hear how Drogheda might benefit from gaining the title of City.
With the battle to be included in the Government’s “Ireland 2040 National Planning Framework” still fresh in people’s minds – as well as the afterglow of successfully hosting 500,000 visitors – residents of the largest town in Ireland are keen to make hay while the sun shines.
The meeting to discuss the future of our town was convened by Mayor of Drogheda Frank Godfrey, who outlined in uncharacteristically succinct fashion what steps need to be taken to return power to Drogheda and regain control of our own destiny.
“The reinstatement of Drogheda Borough Council and a Town Manager are of the utmost importance, as we are powerless without that, and we don’t want to be dictated to by Dundalk,” he told the capacity audience.
“We are a place that wants to do business, and we need to be responsible for our own destiny and want our town back. We have proven what we can achieve through the Fleadh, and even though Drogheda has come a long way, we want to go further, and want real investment in the town.”
Even though Cllr Godfrey has been a public representative for over 40 year and is wearing the Mayoral chains for a fourth time, he was scathing of those who were elected to speak for Drogheda.
“We are not being taken seriously and out TDs are not delivering,” he said emphatically. “We want some real action, and our TDs need to put pressure on the Government.”
Public representatives were thin on the ground, with Senator Ged Nash making a brief appearance, along with Fine Gael Cllr Oliver Tully and Sinn Fein reps Cllrs Kenneth Flood and Cllr Joanna Byrne in attendance, and emails of regret from all Louth TDs.
The headline act of achieving city status may have distracted from the serious topics that were discussed, but the task of selling the benefits fell first to Dr Brian Hughes, the planning expert who complied the report on why Drogheda qualifies to be called a city.
The evidence-based report was commissioned by the Drogheda City Status, the group led by Vincent Hoey and Peter Monaghan which has been campaigning to end what it claims is the “nightmare” dual administration of the town.
The report also highlighted how the former borough of Drogheda, together with the adjoining Louth and Meath rural areas, have increased in population by almost 80% between 1996-2016.
This, the report claims, is in comparison to the average national increase was 31.22%.
The towns of Laytown, Bettystown and Mornington in east Meath have been earmarked for development. It is expected that the populations of these area will surpass 15,000 in total by the next census in 2021.
“There is an imbalance in Drogheda, as the largest town has the largest commute as people leave to work elsewhere,” he stated.
“The growth here is greater than Limerick, Galway and Cork, and it has been proven that things happen when you become a city; central place activity adds strength, and my proposal would be for the seven councillors in East Meath to sit with the 10 councillors in Drogheda to discuss their issues, alternating between meeting in Drogheda and Dundalk. Only the local authority would change – people can still be proud of their Louth and Meath jerseys but have proper leadership and governance.”