It was with much disgust that we read and heard about what Bertie did or didn’t say at the Mahon Tribunal and also the various allegations made against Ray Burke at the Planning Tribunal. It leaves a bitter taste of corruption, on my tongue anyway, but it’s not just on a national level that things don’t look right. On a local level, and in Drogheda in particular (my home town) things are starting to go a bit off.
Drogheda is a very historic town, to say the least. Situated on the legendary river Boyne, it has been a focal point for many of Ireland’s major events in history, from Newgrange to the viking invasions and from Oliver Cromwell to the Battle of the Boyne. The town itself has long had a medieval feel about it with remnants of the old walls and gates still visible, narrow streets and a venerable parochial attitude amongst its inhabitants.
All of that is changing however. Slowly at first but more recently this change has gathered pace as more and more new developments are being given the go ahead by the town’s planners. Drogheda is rapidly loosing it’s old world charm, which let’s face it, it’s all it’s got left, seeing as Dundalk, the county town, has two Fianna Fail TDs and gets the lions share of public funding and new employment opportunities, leaving Drogheda, the largest town in Ireland, with a sub-standard rail service that several thousand people use daily to get to work in Dublin.
Most of the recent developments have been residential, turning Drogheda into a sleeper town for the capital’s workforce but what’s starting to smell though is that a fair portion of these new and recent developments were, and are being constructed by Shannon Homes whose SOLE agent is Thomas Byrne Auctioneer.
What’s up with this? Well nothing really, until you look at the Drogheda Borough Council Website and see that one of our local councillors is Tommy Byrne (who, by the way, appears to be Independent but if you dig a bit further can see that he was recently inducted in to Fianna Fail). Is this the SAME Thomas Byrne Auctioneer, sole agent for Shannon Homes, the company responsible for most of Drogheda’s recent housing developments?
What do you think and what is that fucking smell?
Also, it’s probably nothing but Cllr. Tommy Byrne’s son is Fianna Fail TD Thomas Byrne for East Meath which borders Drogheda so it wouldn’t surprise me if saw some major development happening there soon. Oh wait, we already have, it’s called Grange Rath, and watchout Donecarney, you’re next!
