Nash says ten-year wait for promised Drogheda education facility goes on

Louth Labour TD Ged Nash has criticised the Minister for Education for failing to deliver a timeline for the long-awaited Louth Meath Education Training Board Head Office building in the grounds of St. Oliver's Community College.

The Drogheda TD says he secured a government decision ten years ago to locate the State body head office in Drogheda.

He says the project has been the victim of "opposition by officialdom with delay after delay hampering the development" ever since.

Deputy Nash said: "I have been a lonely voice pushing relentlessly from the opposition benches for the delivery of a project that for the first time in living memory saw a government favour Drogheda over other regional centres like Navan and Dundalk where the former county VEC head offices resided.

"Since 2016 it has been a case of delay after delay. However, some clear progress has been made with the project now at Stage 2B with a best-case scenario of another year to go on tendering with a swift build after that."

The Louth Labour TD added: "The obvious opportunity for Minister Foley to announce tendering and a timeline for completion was on her visit to St. Oliver's last week. Why she chose not to leaves me sceptical.

"The closer any announcement is to a general election, the more suspicious people will be about cynical pre-election stunts.

"This is a project that has now been ten years in the making. It needs to be delivered and if elected to government I will finish the job I started."