Garages are too small to house a car!

Over a decade after she wrote a newspaper article about their plight, Senator Alison Comyn has been contacted by residents of Strand Cottages on the busy port road who are still suffering from dire parking conditions, poor access to their houses and speeding cars damaging their own vehicles.

“I first wrote about the problems residents were having in this row of 17 townhouses in 2014, and not only have these issues not been addressed, but they are also ten times worse,” says Senator Comyn, who was a journalist for the Drogheda Independent.

“They all have garages which are too small to house a car, and to access them would cause a traffic hazard anyway, so they have no option but to park on double yellow lines on the footpath, where cars are regularly damaged, and constantly fined.” In recent months, one car was written off after it was wrecked by a passing truck.

Barbara Carton has been living in Strand Cottages since 2003 and says they have all reached ‘the end of the line’ with the problems.

“It was a very quiet part of town when I moved here 22 years ago, but the traffic is now unbearable, with hundreds of lorries a day passing, and the speed cars go along here is crazy,” she says.

“It is like a racetrack and the dust and dirt all over our houses and cars is disgusting; you would need to put in speed ramps right along the road to slow them down, or at least some signs and rumble strips.”

Barbara’s car was damaged for the third time in recent weeks, clipped by a car or lorry as it was parked on the path in front of her house.

“We know we’re not supposed to park on the path in front of our houses, but we have no choice,” she adds. “To reverse into our garages would mean bringing the road to a halt, and they are too small for most modern cars anyway.”

Neighbour Frances Aitken is still without transport, after her car was written off by a passing truck.

“We have complained to the council and port so many times over the years, so we are really hoping something can finally be done to help us, as we have been totally forgotten over the years,” says Frances. “The drains are constantly blocked and overflowing, the dirt from the trucks covers the front of our houses, there is anti-social behaviour at night, but the main problem is the parking.

“If they could give us an area across the road - even the footpath there isn’t being used - it would solve at least one of our problems.”

Another neighbour Ilario Di Agostino said trying to live there is proving very problematic.

“We have been having some work done, and the plumber had nowhere to park, and I had to pay for a skip for a full day, even though it could only stay for 20 minutes,” he explains. “I used to be a driver in the Italian army, and even with my skills, it is difficult to get my car in and out of the garages.”

Senator Comyn is contacting the port authority and Louth County Council to see if any solution can finally be found for the residents.

“It was Barbara’s father Cyril who contacted me back in February 2014 about the problems and he is still living here and suffering the same issues, so enough is enough for these poor residents,” she says. “They described it as the ‘Twilight Zone before’, and it is time they stepped into the light.”