Senator Ged Nash has warned the people of Drogheda to beware of ‘government representatives bearing gifts’ as speculation on a February general election mounts.

He was responding to claims made over the weekend by local Fine Gael TD Fergus O’Dowd that Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy is about to fund the Northern Port Access Route.

“The people of Drogheda are smarter than this government might give us credit for” Senator Nash said.

“Locals would be wise to take this pre-election gimmick with a shovel-load of salt.

“Nobody would be more pleased than I to see the long-awaited road funded and completed.

“However, given this government’s objectively awful record in terms of investment in and the promotion of Drogheda, this announcement coming so close to what’s likely to be a February election should be treated with the suspicion it deserves.

“The fact is we now have the resources available in this country to make the kinds of investments we could only dream of a few short years ago.

“We know to our cost that Drogheda has effectively been ignored and strung along by this administration, in part because we have nobody at senior level in government and at ministerial level to stand up for our area.

“We are ignored because we can be ignored. This state of affairs must be brought to an end.

“This road must be built and it is an absolute priority for me.

“With Fine Gael’s pathetic record on investment in Drogheda, the question should be asked ‘why should they be trusted now?’”