Drogheda City

DCSG met Drogheda Municipal Borough District councillors at the civic offices, Fair Street. Members of Drogheda City Status Group (DCSG) met with councillors of the Municipal Borough District of Drogheda at the council’s chambers in Fair Street yesterday (Friday). DCSG welcomed the opportunity to meet with councillors and to have what was a frank and at times passionate exchange of views in relation to the governance of Drogheda going forward. The meeting was chaired by Mayor of Drogheda, Cllr. Michelle Hall. “We were delighted to have an opportunity to make our case that a city administration is the best way forward for the effective administration of Drogheda,” DCSG Chairperson Anna McKenna said. “The views expressed on both sides of the table were forthright and honest, and although there was disagreement on certain things, we were glad to have an opportunity to express how we feel about how the city of Drogheda needs to be governed,” she said. “The campaign for city status has incr...

Deputy Joanna Byrne TD with Drogheda City Status Group members Andrine Mendez, Sylvia  McCann, Ciara MacCormac, Anna McKenna and Anthony Murphy at the Cities Bill launch. Drogheda City Status Group (DCSG) warmly welcomes the publication of a draft Bill which they believe sets out a clear legislative pathway to the creation of a city administration for Drogheda. DCSG members attended the launch of the draft Bill in Drogheda this morning, at the invitation of local Sinn Féin TD Joanna Byrne, who has been working on the Bill with Dáil legislators for over a year. “This is a historic day on Drogheda’s journey to achieving city status,” said DCSG Chairperson Anna McKenna. “For the first time, we have a document which sets out a clear legislative route towards creating new cities in Ireland, with Drogheda as its model,” said Anna. Deputy Byrne said that, “For the first time ever, this paves a way forward for City Status to be granted to the place we call home”. DCSG agrees with Deputy By...

DCSG Chairperson Anna McKenna and PRO Anthony Murphy on their way to Dáil Éireann. Representatives of Drogheda City Status Group (DCSG) had a very engaging and constructive meeting with Minister of State for Local Government John Cummins at Leinster House today. The meeting was attended by DCSG Chairperson Anna McKenna and PRO Anthony Murphy, and by Minister Cummins, Deputy Paula Butterly and five advisors. Minister Cummins had much empathy with Drogheda’s plight. He is from Waterford, which is a city – like Drogheda – that straddles two counties (Waterford and Kilkenny), and he understood the need to bring the “two sides” together to advance Drogheda’s situation. He also revealed that he has a relative living in Drogheda and was familiar with our situation. With the Task Force for Local Democracy set to release its findings imminently, the Minster could not pre-empt or comment upon what those findings might be, as the process is entirely independent of the Government and its Ministers...

Drogheda is a city by EU/OECD definitions. But FF/FG have moved the goalposts again. Drogheda City Status Group (DCSG) commiserates with the people of Galway and Waterford on the impending downgrading of their cities by the Government to 'Galway town' and 'Waterford town'. DCSG this week learned that not only does the current FF/FG Government not intend to grant city status to Drogheda, but the Government has announced a new (plucked-out-of-the-sky) population threshold of 100,000 for gaining city status. Surely this now means that Galway, with 86,000, and Waterford, at just over 60,000 population, must be stripped of their city titles? In an article published by the Drogheda Independent's online edition this week, with the headline 'Drogheda and Dundalk set to regain borough councils under new local government reforms' , penned by John Kierans, we read that Drogheda and Dundalk 'look odds-on to have local authority status restored in the next few years...