Popular Louth pub being used as a bus shelter amid increasing calls for action

A popular Louth pub is being used as a bus shelter amid further calls for increased shelters across the county. 

The comments were made by Mayor of Drogheda Cllr Michelle Hall who told the March meeting of the Drogheda Borough District that The Thatch Bar & Kitchen was being used to shelter bus users from the rain. 

Fine Gael councillor Ejiro O'Hare Stratton told the meeting she was on her knees begging for new bus shelters in the town. 

She said there is a "genuine need for bus shelters" in Drogheda and called for one to be installed at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital as well as one in the town centre. 

Cllr O'Hare Stratton warned that people coming to the hospital are leaving with pneumonia and having to come back the next day as a result. 

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Louth County Council had been allocated €500,000 by the National Transport Authority in 2025 for bus shelters yet none were installed.

A senior engineer with Louth County Council previously told councillors this was down to issues with the design team, and that new designers had been appointed for 2026.

A spokesperson for the council told the meeting that it was not was not up to the local authority to determine where bus shelters would go, rather it was up to Bus Éireann. 

"The location comes from Bus Éireann. They decide, they come to us with saying they want to put a pole there or a shelter here, and this needs to be fully accessible. They own the bus shelter and we are just doing the work for them," she said. 

Mayor Hall said councillors were not aware that is was Bus Éireann that were delaying matters and said elected members would "put pressure on them" to resolve the issue. 

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.