Gardai are asked to help close escape route
A further appeal has been made to the garda authorities to close the hole in a ditch between the Moneymore and Castlemanor estate on the Ballymakenny Road (right).
Superintendent Andrew Watters (pictured above) has been asked to tackle the issue, after a number of incidents in the area.
In a letter to the gardai, residents in Castlemanor say the situation has become unbearable, with drug dealing and criminality constantly taking place at the ditch.
‘We now know we are dealing with very serious criminals, happy to use extreme violence and firearms on anyone who may, even accidently, get in their way. Residents are living in fear for themselves and their children due to this gap/ditch,’ they state.
They feel the gardai should discuss the closure of the gap with the council.
‘We would also request your support in writing to the council requesting that the gap be closed. This must be a drain on valuable Garda resources. We are now living in fear and have had to install extra security systems and close our blinds once darkness falls,’ the letter added.
Despite leaving a hospital bed to attend the November council meeting in Drogheda, Cllr Tommy Byrne failed to have his emergency motion heard to close the controversial gap running between the two estates on the Ballymakenny Road.
The Fianna Fail councillor was being treated in the Lourdes hospital, but says he was ‘shocked’ that his motion wasn’t even allowed to be heard, and a ‘disgrace’ that he was not even given the courtesy of tabling it.
“The lethal and dark alleyway between Moneymore and Castle Manor Estate must be closed immediately,” said Cllr Byrne.
“The alleyway is a hang-out for drugs and used by gunmen. The big fear is that a child will encounter these people at the gap and the route has also been used to mount robberies on local delivery people. This is about the safety of local people in both estates of Moneymore and Castle Manor. This is the worst case i have come across as an Auctioneer and Councillor in County Louth. The land owned by Louth County Council right beside the Ballymakenny School needs to be developed to provide a secure and safe roadway to the school. The people of Moneymore deserve a safe route to school for their children.”
Cllr Byrne’s motion had been calling on Louth County Council to provide a new secure and safe route for the 300 children from Moneymore, who walk to Ballymakenny School each day, however, as the gap was the subject of another rejected motion in September, standing order rules dictated it could not be raised again for another six months.
“I really do think that Cllr Byrne should have been given the respect and dignity of being heard, especially as he took time to come from his hospital bed,” argued Mayor of Drogheda Frank Godfrey.
However, his pleas, as well as those from Cllr Byrne fell on deaf ears, as Senior Executive Officer Alan Sherry clearly stated the council rules.
In September, Cllr Joanna Byrne asked that a footpath between Moneymore housing estate and the Ballymakenny Road be constructed, as there is already a gap walkway established which residents have been using for generations to get their children to school,
However, she was told the “approved” route from Moneymore to Ballymakenny Rd is along the public road, i.e. Windmill Road and the Council have no plans to construct another footpath from Moneymore to Ballymakenny Road.