Shocking news just in this morning is that the government has poured cold water on Drogheda’s city status ambitions after Fianna Fail Minister Darragh O’Brien, dismissed the idea out of hand in response to a Dail question from Labour TD, Ged Nash.
This will come as a shocking blow to the Drogheda City Status Group who have been campaigning for almost 15 years and were confident that their lobbying was bearing fruit.
This morning Deputy Ged Nash TD said: “This short-sighted government has effectively given two fingers to all the people working hard on our town’s quest for city status and we won’t take this lying down.”
The Louth Labour TD explained: “I recently tabled a parliamentary question to the Minister for Local Government, asking him to lay out a legislative path for Drogheda to become a city.
“I was stunned by the dismissive tone of the response from the Minister, who said in the very first line of his reply that city status for Drogheda is simply “not being considered” and there are “no plans” to legislate for city status or deliver a local authority for Drogheda.
“His reply is another in a long line of kicks in the teeth Fianna Fail governments have delivered to Drogheda. I would not have been surprised if the Minister tried to kick the can down the road on Drogheda’s city status ambitions but I was taken aback that he would publicly dismiss the idea, out of hand.
“Drogheda’s City Status Group and the people of Drogheda have worked hard on putting the case for city status and for this government to arrogantly dismiss the notion without proper consideration is insulting.”
Deputy Nash added: “Drogheda is Ireland’s largest town and city status is crucial to its future development. It cannot be just dismissed with a wave of the Minister’s hand.
“I have always backed the quest for city status and my question to the Minister was an attempt at a practical step in laying out a legislative pathway to achieve it.
“I tried to get the process underway in 2015, by seeking to extend the boundary of our town, only for a Fine Gael-led Department of Housing to cowardly fudge the boundary question in 2017. Labour is also the only party to propose legislation in 2017, to restore a Council for Drogheda.
“One of the poorer excuses the Minister has for his refusal to create a Drogheda City Council is that the town straddles two counties but this is exactly why we need our own local authority. Drogheda needs autonomy over its own development instead of constantly finding itself falling between the two administrative stools of Louth and Meath County Councils.”
Deputy Nash concluded: “City status, along with a new City Council for Drogheda will allow what is now a city in all but name, to grow in a more sustainable and structured way.
“For the government to simply deny the people of Drogheda a pathway to city status for no good reason other than it looks difficult, is lazy and short-sighted and they should pay the price.
“Those striving for city status for our town will not be deterred by the Minister’s dismissal and I will continue to back them in pressing the case for Drogheda City.”
In his written response to Deputy Nash the Minister says:
The Local Government Act 2001 currently provides for three cities, namely Cork, Dublin and Galway, and for each of these to have a city council.
If an additional city council was to be established, it would have significant implications for the county in which the area concerned is situated, particularly around loss of functions of the relevant county council. Creation of a “Drogheda city” local authority would have a major impact on Co Louth, leaving the county council with much reduced territorial jurisdiction, population, and resources. This would be further complicated by the fact that the area being proposed for Drogheda to qualify as a city includes part of Co Meath.
For a city council to be established, provision would have to be made for this and other consequential matters in the relevant legislation. There are no plans for legislation in this regard.
