Garda boundary change comes into effect
The long-mooted change in the Garda divisional boundary to bring parts of Drogheda which are in County Meath into the Drogheda policing area came into effect yesterday.
The move addresses a situation whereby parts of Drogheda, including the Southgate Shopping Centre and the Grange Rath and Deepforde housing developments, were policed by the Ashbourne Garda District, rather than Drogheda.
The boundary shift means that these areas will now be part of the Louth South Community Engagement Area, headquartered in Drogheda rather than the Meath South Community Engagement Area, which has its headquarters in Ashbourne and should mean a quicker response time to incidents there.
The change came into effect at 7pm on Sunday, 28th January.
"This will redraw the boundary between the Northern Western Region (Drogheda) and Eastern Region ( Ashbourne) and will mean changes for the geographical area policed by Louth South Community Engagement Area, Louth South Crime Area and Roads policing to include a portion of the town of Drogheda living and working in Meath that heretofore were in the old Ashbourne Policing District," explained Superintendent Andrew Watters.
"The changes are more logistically efficient in allowing all premises/residences north of the boundary utilise Drogheda as their District Headquarters station for all enquiries as against Ashbourne station,“ he added.
The new Regional and Divisional Boundary line runs from out of Drogheda on the Marsh Road (R150) to take a right after Drogheda Grammar School onto the Mill Road. At the Junction at the end of this road the boundary will turn right onto the Colpe Road (L16111) to the roundabout at Southgate. The boundary line will now take the first exit onto the R132 south to the next roundabout before continuing along on the Beabeg Road (L16111).
The boundary line will continue up as far as the flyover with the M1 Motorway. From here the boundary line will follow the natural contour of the M1 Motorway as far as the existing Louth County boundary line at the Mary McAleese Bridge. All premises and residences to the south of this boundary will remain in the Eastern Region/Meath Westmeath Division.
The areas affected by the boundary change include the Marsh Road (R150) to the intersection with the Mill Road, Grangerath Housing estate, Southgate Shopping Centre, Deepforde Housing Estate, Beamore Cross, Beabeg Road as far as the M1 crossover bridge, Drogheda Retail Park, Boyne R.F.C. Sports Grounds, Drogheda Grammar School, Gaelscoil an Bhradáin Feasa, Drogheda Educate Together.
It will increase the workload for Gardai in Louth South Community Engagement area, but should free up some resources in the Meath South Community Engagement area, as it will no longer have responsibility for those areas of Drogheda.
"It's a proposal that has been on the table since 2019 and the reason behind it was, you literally had half of industrial estates, or in some cases housing estates, half in Ashbourne, half in Drogheda, so it makes perfect logistical sense to bring all in to a more defined clear boundary. They are now all under the Louth South Community Engagement Area. We needed more resources. We have got additional resources and I will still be looking for more," said Supt Watters.
He added that they liaised with the centres on the list such as Southgate,and Drogheda Grammar School explained to them the changes and they are delighted with it.
In terms of what will change for local residents, it means passports and administration around events etc can be done at the nearby Drogheda Garda Station, rather than travelling to Laytown, or if it was closed, the district headquarters at Ashbourne.
It means that all 999 calls from these areas will be dealt with by the same control centre as Drogheda and the rest of the Cavan/Monaghan/Division, which is based in Galway, with the call-taker able to see what nearby resources are available. Meath calls are dealt with by a separate centre in Waterford.