Laytown/Bettystown, Julianstown and Duleek remain in Ashbourne Garda district
An Garda Síochána announced this morning that they have realigned the boundary of the North Western Region and the Eastern Region, which will bring some areas of South Drogheda that were previously policed from Ashbourne under the control of the Drogheda Garda station.
The new Regional boundary lines takes the following route out of Drogheda town:
- Marsh Road (R150)
- Right turn onto Mill Road
- Right turn onto Colpe Road
- First exit on the Roundabout at Southgate Shopping Centre onto the R132 South
- Right onto Beabeg Road
- Continues to M1 flyover
- To the existing County Louth boundary line at Mary McAleese Bridge
All premises and residences to the south of this boundary will remain in the Eastern Region. This includes the M1 motorway adjacent to the revised boundary line as far as the Louth border.
This change, which is good news for residents of South Louth but brings no joy to people in Bettystown, Laytown and other areas of East Meath that are far closer to Drogheda than Ashbourne, came into effect on Sunday evening, 28th January 2024 at 7.00pm and has been welcomed by several political representatives.
Labour TD Ged Nash also welcomed the extension of the Drogheda policing area to include parts of South Drogheda in Meath saying he had campaigned for sensible Garda boundaries in this area for many years.
“It defied belief that a resident in Grangerath, Deepforde or Highlands needing Garda assistance would have to wait for a Garda working in the Ashbourne district to respond.
“It is about time that the wider Drogheda community is treated as a one community and that those resident in Drogheda, County Meath can now rely on their local Gardaí to be available both in emergencies and in everyday community policing efforts is welcome.
“It is my understanding that this is the first of a series of boundary restructures for the area and I continue to call on the Fine Gael Minister for Justice Helen McEntee to provide much needed personnel and funding for this expanded policing area and to revitalise the diminished yet much needed and effective community policing service in the area.
Cllr James Byrne, who is the Chairperson of the Drogheda Joint Policing Committee, welcomed the realignment saying the old Drogheda Garda District is now the expanded Louth South area which now takes in the Meath side of Drogheda, as well as taking in parts of mid-Louth.
“It didn’t make sense for residents of Grange Rath, Deepforde, the Highlands, etc to be relying on Ashbourne for Garda support. So those living on the Drogheda side of the Mill Road, Colpe Road and Beamore Road as far as the M1 will be served by Drogheda Gardai in terms of community policing, crime prevention and roads policing.”
Deputy Fergus O’Dowd said today’s changes are more logistically efficient in allowing all premises and residences north of the boundary line to utilise Drogheda as their district headquarters for all enquiries, instead of the Ashbourne District.
“This has been a long time coming and one which I campaigned on for many years” he added.
