Nash says Labour pledges for Drogheda and other towns largely absent in FF and FG plans

Labour TD Ged Nash has secured commitments in the party’s General Election manifesto for the formation of a legal pathway to city status for Drogheda, the restoration of town and Borough Councils and the extension of the Living Cities initiative to the town and other large urban centres.

“If I am re-elected and we secure enough seats, I will be one of the small handful of TDs who would expect to be involved in negotiating a Programme for Government with other parties” he said.

“There is a golden rule in politics at national level – if it’s not in your manifesto, it won’t be in a Programme for Government.

“Locals in Drogheda who are going to the polls next week will be surprised to see no mention at all in the Fianna Fail manifesto of city status for Drogheda or other any large regional town, and neither is there any reference to the Living City initiative extension.

“Taking a look at the FG manifesto, there is no reference to any plans to restore Borough or Town Councils, or to the question of upgrading large towns like Drogheda to administrative cities. This is unsurprising and not entirely unexpected.

“At the time of writing, SF had yet to publish their manifesto, and nobody knows that you get from sole-trader Independents whose voices will be drowned out in the next, expanded Dail.

“The best and only way to secure a legal path to city status for Drogheda and other large centres, the restoration of local government in urban areas like Drogheda and Dundalk and the extension of schemes like the Living Cities initiative given to the likes of Kilkenny but denied to us, is to vote for people and parties who are prepared to do the business for Louth at national level.

“The status and future development of our area is at stake. Now that we know where the parties that candidates represent actually stand officially, the choice for Drogheda is becoming clearer by the day.

“No amount of wishful thinking and the best of intentions will fix our problems. Having an experienced and respected voice at national level, a TD who knows how to get things done, and who is prepared not just to diagnose our problems but who has a plan to fix them, has never been more important.”