Government has acknowledged the elephant in the room – Drogheda is a city
The Drogheda City Status Group (DCSG) has described the commitment from senior Government figures, including the Taoiseach and the Minister for Housing, to appoint a City Manager for Drogheda as a “watershed moment” for their 14-year campaign.
“Finally, after fourteen years of campaigning, we have an acknowledgement from the Government of the ‘elephant in the room’ – the fact that Drogheda is Ireland’s newest city,” said Anna McKenna, chairperson of DCSG.
Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage Darragh O’Brien recently told a gathering of people at the Drogheda launch of Alison Comyn’s election campaign for Fianna Fáil that a specific focus on Drogheda, as Ireland’s largest town, was needed.
The Minister told that gathering there would be a specific focus through a city manager or deputy county manager for Drogheda to “drive the projects that are needed” for the growing city.
Minister O’Brien told DCSG in private before the launch that he had very good news for them. He gave a verbal commitment that a City Manager for Drogheda would be appointed.
In West Street last week, Taoiseach Simon Harris said that he supported city status for Drogheda. He acknowledged that there was huge potential for Drogheda. “I think this is a city in all but name,” he told a local reporter. “In terms of population, it is larger than some cities in Ireland. I’m very eager to work with the local authority to make this happen.”
“Now that there’s an acknowledgement that Drogheda is a city, and we’ve heard those magic words – ‘Drogheda’ and ‘city – in the same sentence out of the mouths of some of the most senior Government politicians on this island, we fully intend to follow up with an intensification of our campaign,” said Anna.
“We want to ensure that this is not just pre-election rhetoric, but a very real and genuine commitment and we’ll be pressing the Government to introduce the required legislation to make this happen at the earliest opportunity.”
Many people now want to know HOW Drogheda will be given city status, and under what mechanisms a city manager would be appointed, since that is not covered by current legislation.
“There is a need for new legislation to allow Drogheda to become a city. The Governments of recent years have enacted huge tranches of legislation, and indeed laws can be enacted with speed when the situation necessitates. If we cannot have a city manager under current Irish law, then we would be insisting that the Government enact such legislation at the earliest opportunity.”
“A situation has arisen over the decades where Drogheda has been bypassed, neglected and gerrymandered, and in that time the population of the area has exploded,” said Anna.
Seven years ago, at the launch of ‘Ireland 2040 – Our Plan’ in Maynooth, then Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government Simon Coveney was asked if he would support the campaign for city status for Drogheda. He told DCSG spokesperson Anna McKenna that he would like the group to present their evidence that Drogheda was a city.
“We gathered the evidence. With the help of one of Ireland’s foremost statisticians, as well as the very dedicated and talented members of our committee, we put together the hard data that showed conclusively the unique and extraordinary growth of Drogheda, and demonstrated without doubt that it is indeed a city,” said Anna.
“We presented that evidence to Minister Darragh O’Brien at Government Buildings in Dublin last November. The figures don’t lie. Nobody can deny that Drogheda is a city, and is in dire need of self-governance in order to provide the best opportunity for that city to grow and thrive.”
Minister O’Brien mentioned his discussions with DCSG at Alison Comyn’s campaign launch in Drogheda. “We engaged a lot,” he said, adding that he was “very taken” by the city status campaign.
Now that the Government has acknowledged the reality on the ground in Drogheda, DCSG intends to ramp up its campaign, to ensure that the promises become reality.
“We have been saying for years that Drogheda needs its own local authority, a city administration, with a city manager at its helm with autonomy and of course a significant budget so that we can address the many challenges and opportunities that face us as Drogheda expands. We want a city that is modern, sustainable, with proper investment in job creation, education, sports and recreation facilities, and where people are proud and happy to live,” Anna concluded.
