In June 2024 the top floors of the former Brady's building in Narrow West Street had to be demolished to prevent them falling into the street.
With their shenanigans since the election, our country’s political leaders have shown their true colours. Uppermost in the minds of many round the negotiation table was not “how can we improve the lives of our citizens?” but “how can I boost my political career?”
Power at all costs seems to be the mantra of the day so we end up with a hotchpotch coalition which includes “Independents” who reserve the right to sit on both sides of the Dáil! It would be funny if it weren’t so serious.
The fact that these negotiations were brokered by the disgraced TD Michael Lowry who was fired from Fine Gael and found guilty by the Moriarty tribunal, tells you all you need to know about the driving forces at work here. It’s beyond irony.
Meanwhile, although the country has never been so wealthy there are record numbers of families living in poverty, homelessness is at an all-time high, and our towns are neglected and suffering badly from dereliction.
Advertisement - continue reading below
Investment in infrastructure in areas outside of the capital is so low that, far from developing into wonderful places to live and to work, many towns and villages are stagnating to such an extent that vacant buildings, some of major historic and architectural significance, are literally falling into the street.
The so-called “reform” of local government introduced by Phil Hogan in 2013 abolished town Councils such as Drogheda Corporation. This saved money apparently, but it also separated citizens even further from the people making the decisions that affect our daily lives.
This Dublin-centric government has also resulted in much reduced powers for local Councillors which, combined with chronic underfunding of local authorities, has resulted in a steep decline in towns like Drogheda.
The heritage rich city/town of Drogheda has been overlooked by governments going back decades and, as a result, is badly run down and in need of urgent attention.
Some of the problems in need of immediate attention, and this is by no means an exhaustive list, are:
Employment - A lack of jobs following numerous closures in recent years and a lack of inward investment in new businesses to replace them.
Dereliction and vacancy – Hopefully lessons are being learned about the need to protect older buildings in the town. There needs to be a policy in place to assist property owners to restore and adapt buildings to allow people to live in the town centre.
Heritage – The appalling neglect of heritage buildings such as Laurence’s Gate, The Butter Gate and many others must be stopped.
Drugs –The drug gangs have been operating for so long, and are making so much money, that it will be difficult but not impossible to get them off our streets and protect the victims.
Access – Not all of the streets and pavements of Drogheda are accessible to all. Progress has been made but there are still no-go areas for wheelchair users. Also, there is still no Changing Places toilet in the town for severely disabled people
The M1 Toll – despite two decades of protest, the government insists on funding private companies by charging a toll on the approach to Drogheda.
Traffic – there is a huge need for the large volume of HGV traffic trundling through the centre of Drogheda to be diverted and the PANCR to be completed as soon as possible. Drogheda Port, which is the cause of much of this HGV traffic, has plans to move to a new site in North County Dublin but this may take many years and in the meantime they are taking up very valuable space on the Quays close to the centre of Drogheda.
I would suggest to the five TDs in County Louth – Ged Nash, Joanna Byrne, Erin McGreehan, Ruairí Ó Murchú and Paula Butterly, that they get together regularly to discuss the problems affecting the citizens they represent and how, together, they can seek solutions to Drogheda’s problems.
Call me naïve, but it seems like common sense to me, but it very seldom happens. Perhaps that’s down to the question of who gets the bragging rights when something is actually achieved.