Housing policy ‘adds to crime problem’

JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell has blamed poor housing policy for playing a major role in the “peculiar crime pattern” which has affected Limerick over the past decade.

Mr McDowell said “mistaken decisions” had been made in the past in relation to the geography of the city from a social and housing perspective.

He claimed the ghettoisation of parts of the city which had resulted from bad housing policy had contributed to Limerick’s unenviable crime record.