‘Dire need’ for bus shelters in Drogheda: Councillor pleads for cover at Lourdes Hospital stop
A Drogheda councillor has pleaded for the installation of a bus shelter at the Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital campus, saying patients, staff and visitors are being left soaked while waiting for services.
Speaking at the recent meeting of Drogheda Borough District, Cllr Ejiro O’Hare Stratton said a proper shelter was urgently needed at the busy hospital stop.
“I am begging on my knees,” she told the meeting. “A full bus shelter is vital — people are arriving into the hospital absolutely drenched.”
She said bus shelters are “desperately needed” across Drogheda, noting that the only existing shelter in the wider town is located on the Meath side of the boundary.
“There is a dire need for bus shelters in Drogheda, and we cannot overemphasise that with this council. I don’t want us to miss the opportunity this year,” she said.
“If Meath can provide a bus shelter at the entrance into Drogheda, why does the rest of the town not have similar shelters?”
Cllr O’Hare Stratton stressed that the Lourdes Hospital stop is “extremely busy”, with a constant flow of passengers getting on and off buses throughout the day.
Responding, Senior Executive Engineer Irene McGahon said there had recently been “positive news” regarding plans for new bus shelters. She added that delays had arisen because the required design specifications had not been available. That issue, she said, had now been resolved.
Ms McGahon clarified that decisions about bus shelter locations are not made by the council.
“It wasn’t that we missed the funding,” she said, explaining that the situation stemmed from a decision by the National Transport Authority (NTA).
She added that Bus Éireann determines the locations of shelters and then liaises with Louth County Council.
“They own the bus shelter, and we do the work for them — but it is driven initially by the NTA.”
The meeting heard that a thatched pub was being used as a bus shelter because passengers were being drenched in recent heavy rains.
Mayor Michelle Hall told the meeting that councillors had previously been informed a list of proposed locations for new shelters was being compiled. She said councillors had been awaiting this list for “quite a while”, with members having already submitted their own priority areas, including George’s Street, North Road and other key parts of Drogheda.
Mayor Hall said if councillors needed to put pressure on Bus Éireann for the shelters to be installed they would do that.