Keep it local!

Dear Sir,

I attended Mayor Godfrey’s Town Hall meeting in the Westcourt Hotel last week.

Among the guests invited to address the meeting was, astonishingly, a Dundalk councillor, who proceeded to deliver a talk on the “Ireland 2040” plan and its impact on Drogheda.

The government’s website on the “Ireland 2040” plan records the names of persons and bodies who submitted representations to it when the plan was at pre-draft stage: see http://npf. ie/submissions-predraft

There is nothing there to indicate that the councillor in question made any submissions about the plan or how it would affect Drogheda.

As we all know, when the draft of the plan was published, Drogheda was completely overlooked. This was a blow to people like me who had submitted numerous representations in support of our town. Luckily, however, we managed to get Drogheda included in the final draft.

Apart from the mayor, we have nine other councillors in Drogheda. Any one of them is, on account of their connection to Drogheda, better placed to address a town hall meeting than a councillor from Dundalk.

Experience shows that if Drogheda wants to grow and prosper, it must look to itself and its own residents to do so. I had always, perhaps mistakenly, understood the mayor to hold this view. My advice to the mayor is, next time he’s organising a town hall meeting about Drogheda, keep it local!

Yours, Anthony Moore PRO South Louth East Meath Fianna Fáil