It was not a requiem for a friend but a mournful assembly symbolically laying to rest an important element of community life in Drogheda that has been terminated with extreme prejudice by those with power over the life and death of Drogheda's social fabric. If such a thing as a coronial certificate was to be issued for Narrow West Street and the other now deceased areas of a once vibrant Drogheda, death by dereliction would be the stated cause.
It was street theatre, protest pageantry, the visual potency of which struck me as the cortege made its way through the town centre. People gathered to view the spectacle. It may have been a mock funeral but no one gathered to mock. A chord had been struck, even a musical one through the baritone renderings of Paul Meagher of the Marxmen.
The event was the brainchild of Drogheda Together 4 All which has been active in the town. Included on its resume is encouraging community integration, respect for diversity, promoting the social over the cult of the individual, tackling deprivation, while combatting racism and fascism. It also sets its face against the aesthetic starvation that the town has been enduring.
The people of Drogheda have elected what has been described as a sub-committee of Louth County Council. Because it has all the power of a Bantustan, it has so far been unable to halt the arrest of degeneration, and seems additionally bereft of finance and ideas when it comes to providing the antidote - regeneration. A walk through the big shopping malls shows plenty for sale but too frequently it is the premises that are on sale. In terms of reboot, reset and regenerate that is, to borrow from Churchillian lexicon, like expecting a person to stand in a bucket and pull themselves up by the handle.
Recently the Marks & Spencer store closed down due to neglect shortly after the place had been flooded as a result of wholly improper maintenance. The final nail in the coffin that we had gathered to bury was the imminent collapse of buildings in Narrow West Street, leading to the thoroughfare between West Street and George's Street being closed off to the public. Our cortege took us to the scene of the crime, as we wailed our dirge Dereliction Is Vandalism.
Drogheda Together 4 All has catalogued the state of dereliction and disrepair in the town, much of it an eyesore, while being adamant that the town is being killed by:
The inaction of the council, the anonymous absentee landlords, the failure to invest, the dereliction of civic duty . . . our elected representatives both national and local, along with the privateers, the landlords, the developers . . .
The town of Drogheda is not a rust belt but is closer to being one than it ever was during the recession. There would be few eyebrows raised were tumbleweed to start rolling thorough the streets, it being so in tune with the derelict barrenness that confronts those who live here.
Chief Mourner Brian Condra is active in much of the town's battles against injustice and deprivation. In his lament for the dead he strongly conveyed the message that the problem is much wider than Narrow West Street.
Let us not forget the derelict houses in Moneymore, Rathmullen Park, Marian Park, Ballsgrove, Pearse Park and Yellowbatter, let us not forget the derelict houses there and let us not forget the children without homes. The dereliction in this town began over forty years ago and has not stopped, we want our local council back, this is our town.
Do not Rest In Peace Narrow West Street - Come Back To Life.
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