Paula Butterly (Louth, Fine Gael)

When it is working. I see the Carlow examples and they are fabulous. It is the issue of the length of time. The initiatives can often come hard and fast. Louth County Council has been very proactive in the past number of years in applying for urban regeneration funding and THRIVE funding, etc. Sometimes the process is very slow and stilted. A great example could be Ardee with Ardee Castle - it has been over and back between public submissions for a number of years. I went in as a councillor in 2021 and we thought we were there. We recently received €1 million to finish the works but they have yet to really start. There are all these town plans and town centre first plans. Councillors seem to be constantly reviewing plans. No sooner do they get to the end of one process than they go into a county development plan. They always seem to be in the throes of submissions, public consultations and new plans but the concrete evidence is slow to come about. I want to give the people of County Louth hope that when it happens, it will be joyous for both towns - Drogheda and Dundalk - and the smaller towns of Ardee, Dunleer, etc.