Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for being late. I did not hear Deputy Howlin's comments but I did listen with great interest to the other commentaries. Somewhat like Deputy Howlin I have been involved in local government for a long time. I served on the local council for 26 years, including as mayor. I fully support the comments made by Councillor Smith. He is absolutely right that an appalling vista has been visited on the town of Drogheda because it is not in control of its own destiny. It does not have local accountability. It does not have a town manager and has absolutely no relevance when the debate moves from the municipal to the county level. I fully support the implicit changes.

I have argued for, and fully support, the city status of a town such as Drogheda to give it control of its destiny. It is time for the county manager, the Minister and the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government to appoint a manager to the town with the status at least of deputy city manager, to plan and negotiate with Louth County Council and Meath County Council the proper, fair and appropriate development of the town and the adjoining portions of County Meath without infringing on the Meath jersey, as Deputy Cassells knows. For that to happen would need somebody with a lot of skill. That is what we need to manage the growth of Drogheda, which is a city. It will reach the population benchmark of 50,000 citizens, which the Central Statistics Office uses to define an urban conurbation by 2023 or 2024. That is what the CSO tells me. To prepare for that change we need it to be led professionally by a full-time executive who has the power to make all those decisions, together with the local council. That is what I am pushing for. I have met the Taoiseach and the Chamber of Commerce and we are all ad idemon this. It must happen.

One of the issues in County Louth is a dysfunction between the members of the local authority and the administration. Without wishing to personalise this, it is unacceptable that meetings of the municipal council or functions in the town of Drogheda are not attended at the very highest level by the chief executive of the council. There is an obligation on them to attend those meetings. That has not happened for some years. When I was on the council, and I am sure when Deputy Howlin was on the council in Wexford, the manager had a mandatory attendance at least twice a month with his full management team in the town, in public, to be accountable, to answer questions, not just about fixing the streets but to plan the future development. That is missing and I fully support Deputy Howlin in that. The door is wide open for change.

Urban regeneration in Drogheda has not been met by funding from the Department as yet. It is under appeal and due process has to take place but to be denied the urban development that it needs and the money to plan and restore the town centre is also unacceptable. As regards Drogheda Port, I am not on the county council, I do not know what happened but I presume if it is accountable to the county council it has to produce an annual report and it can be required to attend at the council meeting to discuss that report and any other issues that arise from it. If there are issues of concern that is the way to manage them.

The big question, which Dr. Quinlivan mentioned, is the lack of interest in local government. I do not know how many people in Drogheda could name even five or six of the local councillors. I am not sure I could name them all. I know the ones I talk to regularly. Years ago, there was fire and brimstone at every council meeting and I could not walk down town without having an argument with somebody or other. The vibrancy, the liveliness and the dynamic has gone from local government. There is absolutely no doubt about that. Its restoration may not happen right now. I have a feeling that the coming local government elections will have a low poll. I do not want that. Accountability has moved to Facebook and other media from the local press. The presence of local government on social media needs to be improved. I would like to fix my street, provided it is fixed, but it often is not.

Many changes are taking place and the witnesses' positions are in the vanguard of that change.

My last point is one I make as somebody who has grey hair. I cannot change my age, but I can change my grey hair. However, I choose to leave my hair as it is and I am very proud of it. Many more people would have grey hair if they did not use the bottles. Incidentally, I am talking about men. With age comes wisdom, knowledge, experience and, thankfully, a good sense of humour. I appreciate the witnesses' points.