The cover of the Drogheda City Staus Group's manifesto published last year.
“Our new Government sees the State with an exceptionally healthy financial position created in the main through a windfall of tax receipts from the corporate sector and the outcome of the Apple case - it alone provides the Government with a once off €14 billion, which various Ministers have said will see infrastructure projects prioritised” said DCSG Chair, Anna McKenna.
“That’s exactly what Drogheda needs and our politicians know that. Yet, to date, there’s no clear planning for our future city coming from any of the political parties.”
“Decades of neglect by successive Governments must end now and substantial investment for Drogheda must be set out in both the new Programme for Government and the revised National Planning Framework. Otherwise, these two key processes and the political parties driving them will have no credibility in the Greater Drogheda Region.”
DCSG has led the way in highlighting some of the infrastructure projects that Drogheda – as Ireland’s largest town and next city – urgently needs, including a University Campus; an “East Link” Bridge; a Railway Bridge that’s needed to progress the Northern Cross Route and a new Drogheda North Railway Station incorporating a public transport hub. The emergence of offshore wind farms will require the services of Drogheda Port and an opportunity for existing and new local businesses in servicing their needs.
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Critical to all these, a road map must spell out the way to not just restoring the Borough Council, but establishing a City Council supported by a local senior management team. That would see an end to the Greater Drogheda Region (including East Meath) being managed from a distance by Louth Co. Council in Dundalk and Meath Co. Council in Navan.
During a visit to Drogheda before the General Election Taoiseach Simon Harris acknowledged that Drogheda “is a city in all but name and it could do so much more in terms of harnessing that potential if it were formally declared as Ireland’s next city.” Continuing this assessment, the Taoiseach also stated that “Drogheda in my view needs a real focus on economic regeneration.”
Whilst these remarks are welcome, DCSG are disappointed with the lack of priority to date that the parties in Government have displayed towards responding to the growing needs of Ireland’s “Cinderella City” and have called on both Micheal Martin and Simon Harris to establish a high-level Expert Taskforce to chart the key role that the future city of Drogheda can play in respect of local, regional, national and international issues.
In previous meetings with both leaders, the City Status group have described Drogheda as an “IDA jobs blackspot,” resulting in thousands of local citizens being forced to make long commutes to secure employment. Drogheda also needs a University Campus to complement the role of DIFE for the many students who also have to commute to Universities in Dublin; Maynooth and other more distant campuses requiring accommodation there.
“The Government parties have been engaged by DCSG and other local organisations regularly over the years, yet Ireland’s largest town didn’t even get one mention in the first draft of the national planning document almost a decade ago. Following an uproar on the part of local business and community groups a reference to the Dundalk-Newry corridor was extended to refer to the Drogheda-Dundalk-Newry corridor. However, to date that appears to have been just a token adjustment as Drogheda continues to be discriminated against by successive Governments and State agencies when it comes to Foreign Direct Investment and infrastructure development.
"We have thousands of talented people making a daily exodus out of Drogheda; East Meath and South Louth mainly to work in the Dublin area. We lack critical infrastructure such as a railway bridge that will expedite the building of thousands of homes on the Port Access Northern Cross Route and the creation of a new Drogheda North railway station,” said Anna.
“Louth and Meath County Councils haven’t even done a feasibility study in relation to the construction of an “East Link” Bridge east of the viaduct to create an eastern bypass of Drogheda which would be a key part of a much needed future orbital route from the M1 on the Meath side to the M1 on the Louth side and remove substantial HGV and other traffic from central Drogheda. This would also enhance access to Drogheda Port and create employment in that area. It would also result in traffic going to or from areas such as Clogherhead and Termonfeckin not adding to congestion in central Drogheda and would allow shorter journeys for those motorists.”
Anna concluded by saying: “In the days ahead, DCSG is calling on all local business and community groups to actively get involved in the creation of a “road map” that sets out key needs in areas such as business growth; community development; environmental protection and enhanced educational options towards achieving sustainable, city status for Drogheda for the benefit of all businesses and communities in the Greater Drogheda area.”