No speed reduction for Model Farm Road in Dromiskin

Louth County Council are not in a position to reduce speed limits on Model Farm Road in Dromiskin, council members heard yesterday at the monthly council meeting.

Speed limits on the road were raised by Cllr Maeve Yore. Cllr Yore asked could the speed limit on this road be reduced to 50 km per hr.

As there is a creche and eleven houses on this road, she believed that this would be a safer speed limit for all concerned.

Chief Executive Joan Martin informed Cllr Yore however that Louth County Council are obliged to follow criteria set down in national guidelines and the reduction was not possible.

Louth GAA stadium

At the beginning of the meeting, members heard that the two Section 183 notices, which related to the disposal of land at Marshes Upper and Forresters Hall, were being withdrawn.

Marshes Upper relates to the land that is planned to be sold to Louth GAA for the proposed new GAA stadium. Forresters Hall is located on Market Street in Dundalk, adjacent to Dundalk Credit Union.

The Chief Executive told members that they were being withdrawn under legal advise as there was ambiguity in relation to the surrounding legislation.

Dog litter fines

Cllr Maeve Yore labelled the the fact that just 12 fines for dog litter have been issued up to November 7 2018 in Louth as 'a joke'.

Cllr Yore was commenting following a reply to a question she put to the Council, where she asked, 'how many fines have been issued to dog owners in Dundalk, Drogheda and Ardee in relation to dog litter and what date did Louth County Council enact the dog bye-laws?'

The full reply Louth County Council gave to Cllr Yore is as follows:

'12 fines for dog litter have been issued in 2018 to date ( up to 7 November): 1 in Drogheda, 2 in Dundalk and 9 in the rest of the county, including Ardee. The Dog Litter and Dog Control Bye-Laws of 2015 were commenced on 16th March 2016."

No movement on Paint a Box art project

Cllr John McGahon expressed his frustration at yesterday's meeting, when he said that there has been no movement on his motion from last year, to establish a Paint a Box art project in the county.

The motion called on the council to follow the example set by Dublin City Council in establishing Dublin Canvas Paint a Box art project which sees local artists paint traffic light control boxes with community art.

Councillor McGahon donated €1,000 of his own municipal discretionary fund to ensure the project could be launched as a pilot project in Dundalk before being rolled out to the rest of Louth.

In a fairly heated exchange with Chief Executive Joan Martin, Cllr McGahon said that he could not understand why the process was not moving.

The Chief Executive said she was concerned about quality and maintenance with regards to public art and that she didn't see any of the pieces of art Cllr McGahon referred to when she was in Dublin.

Cllr McGahon responded, saying that he saw three himself the previous night alone while in Dublin.

He continued, asking if there was a policy in Louth County Council with regards to public art, and if contact has been made with any other local authorities in relation to it.

Cllr McGahon suggested that if other local authorities have a policy regarding public art, then perhaps Louth should adopt the same policy.

He concluded by expressing his frustration that after 12 months of pushing for action on his motion 'and €1,000 of my own money going into it', that '12 months later, this is what we are thought of.'