Independent Councillor Kevin Callan has called on the government to stop making what he says are “bogus announcements” for Drogheda. He says last week’s announcement that Drogheda is to get €200,000 from the Town Centre First Heritage Revival Scheme is “a total load of nonsense” and a serious insult to the people of Drogheda.
He added that the government also needs to stop sending ministers to walk around and be photographed looking at dereliction when in the Dail they are saying they will not be providing assistance.
“This has gone on now for far too long” Cllr. Callan said. “Drogheda is not being treated fairly at the national level and we need access to serious funding to turn the tide on things like dereliction.
“Despite this fact the government have confirmed that they will not allow us to access the Living Cities initiative when locations like Kilkenny which are far smaller have access to the funding and are also in far better shape with less dereliction as well.
“At the same time that government is telling us we will not be able to access supports, they are sending junior ministers for tours of the dereliction to get photographs taken where we are told help will be made available.
“This week we get another announcement less than two weeks from the election saying that we will get €200k to rethink the town centre area. What a total load of nonsense, this latest statement is a serious insult to Drogheda and is utterly insufficient to help us fight to save the centre and heart of the town.
“Because this nonsense has gone on for years, Drogheda has continued to deteriorate, and people are extremely annoyed and feel let down. Each time this type of non-event is heralded as a big success, we need to call it out for what it is and elected representatives owe this to people to be straight with them.
“When you consider the impact of the loss of the D Hotel on our economy, estimated to be in the region of €20million, government is not only not helping us but is hindering our local efforts to drive our economy on.
“These promises are the very worst form of politics and you cannot blame people for having lost all faith in announcements for the town. We need real investment, real help and not vacuous statements of funding that could not even cover the cost of restoring one derelict building.”
See our article from last Friday:
