Final piece of the Louth GAA Stadium jigsaw

LOUTH GAA will host the official launch of their final fundraising drive as they look to fill in the final jigsaw piece of the long-awaited new stadium which is located on the Inner Relief Road in Dundalk.

An information evening for the sale of three-year seats in the new stadium will take place in the Imperial Hotel at 7:30pm this evening. Louth GAA are hoping to sell 1500 tickets at a cost of €1000 each which will potentially raise €1.5m towards the cost of the stadium which will have a capacity of 14,500.

The Louth GAA Stadium Committee have already raised the vast majority of funds needed to build the stadium thanks to the Government’s Irish Immigrant Investor Programme which raised almost €15m and the double house draw which raised a further €1.2m. Louth GAA are also hopeful that the GAA will stump up between €4m-€5m to go towards the cost of the project.

According to Louth GAA chairman Peter Fitzpatrick this final fundraiser is the final piece of the jigsaw to help raise the necessary funds for the project which will cost in the region of €20m.

“We are inviting everybody to come up to the Imperial Hotel on Thursday evening (tonight) for an information evening in relation to our seat reservation sale for our new stadium. We have the President of the GAA, Larry McCarthy coming down for the launch and we will have refreshments and a meet and great as well as information on the seating plans.

“We are asking local Gaels to help push this project over the line and we have information on the three year seating plans as well as the various options people have to pay for their three year ticket.

“We have fixed a deal with a number of local credit unions who have agreed to offer generous long term loan terms for anybody interested in buying a ticket. There will be information on that as well as what the three year ticket entitles you to. We are asking for one last push from Louth Gaels to get us over the line and we are hopeful that they will support us,” stated Fit- zpatrick.

“There’s been a lot of work going on over the last few weeks down at the site and we are about to go out to tender in the next couple of weeks. As soon as the contract is awarded we’ll be ready to start. We are hopeful that the early summer the work will begin in earnest. The site is completely levelled out. Soil has been compacted and we are ready for the next stage now. It’s a hugely exciting time and we are still hopeful that we will be ready to play our first game in our new stadium by September 2024,” he added.

Chairperson of Disability

Louth Calls for a Ban of e-Scooters on Footpaths

By Brooke Bannon

E-SCOOTERS are highly dangerous and pose a significant risk of harm to pedestrians and drivers according to the chairman of a local disability rights group.

David Larkin, Chairperson of disABILITY Louth, has called for a ban of e-Scooters on footpaths and pedestrian areas. When speaking to David he expressed how electrical scooters are particularly dangerous to people with mobility issues, people with a guide dog or assistance dog and people with visual impairments.

He stated that “it is challenging enough to navigate on footpaths with a visual impairment without the added danger of an e-scooter”. He explains that as an e-scooter is a motorised vehicle it should not be permitted on footpaths and that there should be a speed limit to stick to whilst in a pedestrian area.

David explained that all peo- ple driving an e-scooter should be licensed. He believes there should be a type of driving test put in place before a licence is given out.

David Larkin and the rest of disAbility Louth hope to see a law put in place to ban e-scooters from footpaths and pedestrian areas to reduce the risk of them causing harm to people on the streets.

He hopes that people on scooters think twice and be aware of others on the street whilst using them in public places.